Yesterday I found these cells on the bottom of a frame in a 2 deep hive (bottom box) that experienced a supercedure less than a month ago. I gave her a second brood box with new duraglit 3 weeks ago today and the second shot is a frame representative of 6 of the frames in this new box. I am going to add a 3rd brood box this week and plan to do splits in a month when new queens arrive. Do you think they're planning to swarm, even with the new real estate they have?
(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1142/img0977u.th.jpg) (http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0977u.jpg)
(http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/727/img0970l.th.jpg) (http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0970l.jpg)
nice brood pattern. add the box. is it time for honey yet?
maybe no swarm. found the same in a super today and the hive appears queenless. maybe a virgin around somewhere waiting for drones and weather. however, if that is what your whole hive looks like, you won't have much room soon. then you'll get a swarm almost certainly.
It is bees' natural tendency to swarm. Swarming is a good thing; it means a healthy colony. Catching it before they swarm and doing a split sometimes saves the work of trying to catch the swarm later -- but neither is foolproof.
And WOW, that's a lot of capped brood in the second photo!
Quote from: kathyp on April 05, 2009, 11:47:46 PM
nice brood pattern. add the box. is it time for honey yet?
maybe no swarm. found the same in a super today and the hive appears queenless. maybe a virgin around somewhere waiting for drones and weather. however, if that is what your whole hive looks like, you won't have much room soon. then you'll get a swarm almost certainly.
Yes, there's a citrus flow on now. One super mostly capped so far and another half full. And hive is solid brood like that in box 2 and box one in more stages of development but full just the same. There is a good bit of drone comb on a couple frames as well. Thought I'd have a little more time and so scrambled to order new woodenware last week when I saw the second new box full of eggs and larvae last week.
That's quite a queen you've got there!! The supersedure was a good one! Congrats!
If there is no larvae in the cup I wouldn't consider it to mean anything.
Quote from: Michael Bush on April 06, 2009, 08:12:39 PM
If there is no larvae in the cup I wouldn't consider it to mean anything.
They were both empty.
Quote from: Michael Bush on April 06, 2009, 08:12:39 PM
If there is no larvae in the cup I wouldn't consider it to mean anything.
A lot of hives, regardless of race, maintain queen cups all year long. They will make some, tear some down, build others and tear those down. Until I see and egg, larvae, or capped queen cell I ignore them. Russians build a lot more of them than do Italians.