To reply to Leo Walford:
>
>1. When I visited the hive yesterday to requeen, a fair number of bees were
>clustered outside on the front. It was rather warm and humid (more than that in
>my bee suit).
 
Clustering outside a queenless hive is not uncommon.  Without a continuous
egg laying source all recently hatched bees finish their duties and sit
around on   the job.
>
>2. I put a super on some time ago, with a queen excluder. Although I do find a
>few bees up there, there does not seem to have been any comb drawn out or honey
>stored.
 
I would take the super off until you have got the queen established.  The
population will be decreasing for the next month until the new bees emerge.
When the brood box has about 5 frames of sealed and unsealed brood, you
could put the excluder back on and lift up 1 or 2 frames of unsealed brood
to the centre of the super.  The nurse bees will come up to feed these
larvae and the house bees will follow to store honey around the brood area.
Getting a box of foundation drawn is always a problem - take it one step at
a time.
 
Betty McAdam
HOG BAY APIARY
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
j.h. & e. mcadam<[log in to unmask]
http://kigateway.eastend.com.au/hogbay/hogbay1.htm