Honey Issue

[wee_deec]

Hi,

I have a bit of problem - it would appear that some how the QE was put on wrongly after an inspection. This has resulted in the Queen laying in some of the frames within the super.

Questions -

Can the honey within the super still be extracted and be fit for human consumption?
Should I only extract after all the eggs have hatched?
Should I just leave the honey for the colony?

Thanks,
Derek

[Jon]

Get the queen down back below the excluder, wait 3 weeks and all will be fine re extracting as there will be no brood left in the supers.

[wee_deec]

Fantastic - Got her back down so that's good.

[Jon]

Check they have not made queen cells in the super as they can do this when brood is separated from the queen.
If you find a queen cell just remove it.

[chris]

Can the honey within the super still be extracted and be fit for human consumption?

I don't use Q E's and often have the queen laying in a part of the super. I'm not fussy, so eat it willingly, like many beekeepers for centuries. If there's some brood left, then you can, as Jon says, wait for it to emerge, or if you're in a hurry, then just cut out the bits of comb that are being squatted.

David Heaf wrote a short article on the subject which may be of interest. I'll try and look it out.

[wee_deec]

No queen cells... hive hasnt attempted to make any this year at all.

Chris - if you can get the article that would be good - would be interesting to read it.

Thanks again for the advice folks