>>It is getting time to add a honey super.  Do we need to do something about the lid, or just let 'er rip and let them come and go as they wish?

It's up to you.  I prefer a single entrance in the summer. 

By the lid, do  you mean the telescoping cover or the inner cover?  In either case they have some flexibility.  I'd weigh the telescoping cover down with heavy rocks or bricks.  It should conform to the super profile within a couple of hot days.

>>Many of the honey frames are bare, so we planned to wait a bit before adding the queen excluder.

I'd advise not to use the excluder at all.  They will draw the super frames out faster without it.  They may even raise one clutch of brood in the super frames but, as they backfil the cells after emerged brood with honey, the brood nest will get push down into the hive bodies.  Since the honey dome is a dome and colonies like vertical nest configurations for thermal reasons, they may continue raising brood in the center of the super. 

You can always insert the exluder after all the super frames are drawn out.  And harvest the honey 21 days later if there was brood at the time you added the excluder.  

If you use the excluder, make sure the queen doesn't get trapped in the super!

Waldemar



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