I have a strong hive that I split on April 17th. I was afraid they may have swarmed because I could not find any eggs. I did see young brood, but unless my eyes are failing me, no eggs had been laid for a few days. I went ahead and did a 50/50 split. This past Friday the 24th I went in to see if I could find any eggs and still none to be found. There was still capped brood more pollen and nectar than I thought should have been there and some brood may have still been uncapped. I have two queens coming in three weeks.(May 17th) Will my bees make it that long with nothing to make a queen from? I may have damaged capped and uncapped queen cells during the split. There may be a virgin queen also that is coming along. Is there anything I should be doing to get ready for the queens?
Mark :?
If there is still capped brood then you should be fine.
You do have the option of going back to the queenright half of the split and borrowing another frame of brood if the period between splitting and queen arrival is going to be prolonged.
Both sides of the split have no eggs. Old queen has swarmed or been injured, etc. I can't find eggs on either side. I did have a little capped brood left though.
Mark
Quote from: mherndon on April 27, 2009, 06:22:14 AM
Both sides of the split have no eggs. Old queen has swarmed or been injured, etc. I can't find eggs on either side. I did have a little capped brood left though.
Mark
In which case you may be in need of 2 queens. Hives that have swarmed early, before the new queens hatch, can often go queenless because of the virgin not returing to the hive, especially if the hive was moved by spliting, because the queen cells were removed by the beekeeper, or due to an incidental bump of a frame to tool against the queen. Ham handed beekeepers often dequeen their own hives, it still happens to me now and then.
Can you beg or borrow a frame or 2 of brood from another beekeeper?
It typically takes four weeks to rear a queen, get her mated, and have her laying. When in doubt make sure both have some eggs and let the bees sort it out.