Hi folks,
I let one of my hives get honeybound. Mostly because they were so confounded slow that when they surged it surprised me. Anyway, I think they were planning to swarm b/c I found and destroyed a queen cell 2 weeks ago. I added another deep and continued feeding.
Tonight I did another inspection and destroyed another queen cell. I haven't seen the queen but there is capped brood inside. I didn't notice larvae, but the bees were pretty thick.
Any thoughts on what's going on? If they've decided to swarm, will they do it regardless of whether there is extra room now? Should I put a queen excluder on the bottom?
It's darn late to swarm, so if that's what they're thinking I hope they change their minds...
Kev
Check the hive again in a few days and see if you see larvae. If you don't you may have no queen. If the queen cell was a swarm cell they are already to far into swarm mode.
Where was the queen cell located on the frame?
How many queen cells were there?
Sincerely,
Brendhan
"Check the hive again in a few days and see if you see larvae."
I was planning to do that.
"Where was the queen cell located on the frame?" Last week's Q/C was about 1/2 way up the frame. Tonight's cell was right on the bottom. There were only 2 cells.
just read annette's earlier post on supercedure. Sounds like I had a supercedure cell in there. Just baffles me if it's so, b/c that hive had an unmated queen in July.
So, now I'm thinkin I killed my hive's next queen. Maybe I should put a frame of eggs or larvae from my other hive in there asap.
Between the laying workers in one hive and the supercedure in another, this has been a rough summer.
kev
>So, now I'm thinkin I killed my hive's next queen. Maybe I should put a frame of eggs or larvae from my other hive in there asap.
That's good insurance. Destroying queen cells, of course, is bad insurance...
I found a hive of mine yesterday with 4 supercedure (emergency) queens cells and 6 swarm cells.
Kind of odd. I will let them hatch out. I didn't notice the marked queen in there, nor did I notce any larva/eggs. My guess is they already swarmed. I looked in the tree close by with no luck.
After last winters kill off, I hope they find a hive already established in the wild and fill it with honey and pollen for the winter.
Just curious??? Do you still have drones in your area at this time of year. Seems to have been an odd year here. I only see a drone occasionally from time to time in my hives and really don't have any idea of the number of feral bees in my area, however I don't think many at all!!!
I noticed drones coming in my hive the other day.
I saw drones in both my hives on Thursday.
kev