@Dan2 and @Gerald_Nickel To my knowledge, Banksia honey usually crystallises relatively fast by comparison with some other Australian native honey varieties.
(@Dan2, please correct me if I’m wrong. My comment is based on my knowledge of WA Banksia’s…but I’m no botanist/horticulturalist so don’t quote me!)
@Gerald_Nickel For other general information:
Hi Alan, thanks for that info. I have seen the bees on the common Banksia marginata - really keen on that one, but for some reason, not the serrata…
Just a follow up on this one (where I put the deep brood frame on top of the frames on the upper ideal super 8 days ago).
I was hoping the brood would be looked after and the larvae would emerge into worker bees and then the empty frame could be removed.
What happened was the queen has laid an egg in all the empty and emptying cells, so there is still stacks of brood in all stages. I am not using an excluder.
I am now trying the suggestion of @Webclan by removing a couple of ideal frames on the two upper boxes and putting the langstroth brood frame on the side, hoping the bees will eventually fill it with honey, after which I can remove it.
If you were running an excluder and another box it would be easy, put it above the excluder and wait for the brood to hatch. I have shifted a few frames with small patches of brood above the excluders in a couple of hives this year to encourage the bees to go through. As soon as the brood is gone they start filling with honey.
Have the opposite of your situation with a swarm I trapped, must have been running short on deeps and put a ideal in one. Of course when I had a look they had drawn it and were continuing to build off the bottom bar to use the space below. Not over concerned as I can leave it in the brood chamber without it causng any issues.
Thanks Sean.
I was a bit concerned about putting the frame above an excluder because last time I did that, the bees made queen cells on it. Apparently it is not unusual (from what I have read) as it can stimulate the supercedure impulse which would then lead to swarming. I could have done it, but would have felt I needed to keep on their case with inspections I suppose.
@Dan2 really? I hadn’t read about that (supercedure impulse) from cycling frames.
What you’ve just described is part of my swarm management strategy each spring and how I help build numbers in the hive. I cycle one frame of brood above the the QX (inner position) and leave an empty (w/ foundation) in it’s place below the QX (I shuffle frames to get the empty in an inner position, not on the edge). I take one frame out from above the QX for crush & strain (tedious…crush & strain) to create the space. My wife gets the wax, we get the honey, and I get a frame to clean and re-use.
Depending on how things seem to be going I might repeat this one more time.
(Note that I have a single 8-frame deep brood box, a QX, and then a flow-hybrid; during heavy nectar flow I also put another deep with 6 flow frames and sometimes a half-deep on top of the hybrid)
Hi Alan, yes it happened to me a few months back.
In the Australian Beekeeping Guide by Goodman and Kaczynski- in their general advice about opening up the brood, they specifically caution as follows, “Avoid transferring combs with eggs and young larvae above a queen excluder as this can stimulate the supersedure impulse to raise queen cells in the super which will then lead to swarming”.
@Dan2 Thanks. I’ve read that but I don’t recall that bit. Perhaps the fact I only take capped frames (i.e. no eggs) is why I haven’t seen that occur.
I was the same with what I moved up, capped or older larvae.
I have let all mine build into double deep brood boxes (8 frame) Hadn’t really thought about them making queen cells if they had the resources.
I might try moving up a frame of eggs in advance of making a spilt at some stage, Nice to start with queen cells instead of the nuc having to start from scratch. Have a couple of hives that I really like the queens in, might be a easy way to get queens from them without actually splitting them.
Dan, I’ve been reading ‘The Pink Pages’ of George Imirie, who invented the Imirie Shim top entrance thingy. It seems to be a series of newsletters really, over a number of years, and is all compiled on the internet. He was a beekeeper all his life and had pretty strong opinions about most things and one thing he was a proponent off was yearly requeening. The reason he said that was necessary was that the older Queen got the less she was able to distribute her Queen pheromones throughout the colony so she was less able to control the colony. I wonder if the colony you had that happen with, had an older queen ie more than 12 months old and the girls above the excluder lost touch with her? Imirie lived in Maryland USA with very distinct seasons and a short one for honey making so having very strong queens and manipulating frames etc to maximise honey production was vital. It got me thinking though…
Hi @cathiemac
It was the opposite queen wise actually. It was a young queen. I thought perhaps the pheromone levels were still developing.
@220 and @SnowflakeHoney. I find it really hard to see if there are eggs in the frame as they are so tiny and the veil obscures my vision too. I tend to bring the frame into the house with my veil off, glasses on and sun shining on it. I fear it might only take one egg up there 
i struggle as well my eye sight isnt as good as it was but if I tilt the frame and get the light right I can usually see them. Always good when you get confirmation, this was nice to see a week after splitting.
