# Hello from a new beekeeper and forum member



## alikoz (Jul 15, 2011)

Hello, beekeeping friends:
My name is Alison and I am new to beekeeping. I have two hives of Russian honeybees. 
I live in Richmond, VT, which is about 12 miles away from Burlington.

So far I love beekeeping -- it is so fascinating and rewarding. I am looking forward to becoming part of this online community and learning from other beekeepers.

Here is my first question: I just added a new super and a queen excluder to my hive, for a total of three boxes (brood chamber, full-sized super, new super w/ queen excluder). The new super and queen excluder have been on for almost 2 weeks, *and I see absolutely no activity in this new super*. There are bees in there, but they aren't doing anything at all. By now I would expect to see SOMETHING. When I added the second super to the brood box, the bees began filling it almost immediately.

Can anyone tell me what could be wrong?
Thanks!
Alison


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## sammyjay (May 2, 2011)

Welcome to beesource! I'm sorry, but I can't answer your questions. Hopefully someone more experienced than me will tell whats happening.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Welcome to Beesource, Alison.

If the bees weren't doing much with the second "full sized super" (do you mean deep brood chamber?), they won't do anything with the third, fourth, fifth, etc. I would remove the top super, depending on the strength of the bees in the bottom, move a couple frames of brood up into the center of the second chamber, put two frames of foundation in the bottom chamber with full comb between each one, and feed the bees 1:1 sugar syrup.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

Welcome from the west coast.


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## lineman52 (Jul 15, 2011)

I am also new, but at our county bee meeting I remember some members said to not put the queen excluder on right away. Give the bees time to explore the new super for about a week.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Bees will not go through an excluder to work undrawn foundation. Remove the excluder. I wouldn't put it back on at all, but if you insist wait until the super is mostly drawn.

http://bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#excluders


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## MDS (Jan 9, 2011)

Welcome to the forum and bee addiction. My bees worked the honey super the same day I took off the excluder. Later let us know if the queen moves up and starts laying there and we can tell ya how to take care of that also. Common question for this time of year, or a little earlier in the session.

Queen excluders are somewhat of an advanced piece of equipment in terms of how they are used. Everyone has an opinion about them as well.


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