why are the bees building comb under the hive?

[Luke N.]

Howdy all,

My friend has a hive that is building comb under the hive, in between the cinder blocks it's resting on.  I'm guessing it's because they are crowded, but I haven't been over there in a while.  They were about to swarm a month ago and probably did with all the queen cells I saw.  It was two full deeps and while I was there he added a queen excluder and a medium.  I recommended against the queen excluder, but he really wanted some honey his first year.  This was a late June package of bees that drew out and filled 2 deep supers.  Having a few acres of clover will make all the difference in hive growth. 

I'm probably heading over there tomorrow and would appreciate any insight into why the bees are doing this.

Thanks,

Luke

[Paul Zelenski]

I've heard of this happening when a mating queen doesn't make it back into the hive. Sometimes she gets under the hive and the bees cluster around her and start building comb for her. I would carefully check for eggs and a queen in the hive and under it. 

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[Luke N.]

Ouch, that would be bad.  In that case would we carefully remove the comb and place it in the hive with as many of the bees as possible, leaving a ramp for the queen in case we miss her?  We would also keep an eye on the bees seeing if they would give us any indication that we missed the queen. 

It is also extremely unlikely that they would swarm to that location right?  Everything I've read about a swarm is they like to be higher and a little if not a lot farther from the parent hive.  I want to make sure I'm not adding two queens together. 

Thanks,

Luke

[William Palmer]

Luke ; Carefully remove each section of comb and put it in a NUC box as a temporary home.You can fit the comb in between a frame and hold it there with an elastic band.You will be able to see evidence of a Queen, (egg / Larva).

 If the parent colony is Queen less you could reunite every one re newspaper method.

   By putting the bees in a nuc, this gives you time to examine the upper hive.

                             A few suggestions.  Good luck.     WEP    East Troy Honey.

[Luke N.]

Paul was right on the money.  Thanks Paul!  The mated queen did not make it back into the hive, instead she made it back under the hive.  There were no eggs/larva/brood in the hive, but under the hive we found bees in all stages of development.  We removed the comb as carefully as we could and placed it into a medium super in the hive.  Hopefully we managed to get the queen as well.  An hour after we remove the comb the underneath of the bottom board was still covered in bees so we are unsure if we got the queen.  There is a deep with space and several frames of honey/pollen she can move down to if we did get her in the hive.  We will check back there for signs of her in about a week. 

If you know you have a hive with a virgin queen, should you place the cover on the screened bottom board to make sure this doesn't happen? 

Thanks,

Luke