I've got a 5 frame OB hive who killed off their queen on the 14th or 15th. She had just started 2 swarm cells before she disappeared. These were capped on the 17th and 18th and emergency supersede cells were being made as well. Since then all of the Q cells are capped (but unfortunately on the same frame) and the last of the brood is now emerging. I anticipate the first queen to emerge on the 25th. The hive has 4 1/2 frames drawn and is 80% occupied by bees with some honey now being put in the brood cells.
The question I've got is with all of the info here, what are your thoughts of, will the first queen to emerge swarm or kill off the other queens and claim the hive as her own? I could steal a frame with the bees on there and put them in another hive to reduce the population and give them a drawn but empty frame if need be.
question i have that would help this out is how do you know they killed the old queen? if they did that i wouldn't expect them to swarm with 80% full. If you think the queen is gone just because you don't see any new eggs she is probably sliming down for the flight to a new home.
I asked myself that very question. The queen was marked and I've been looking for her since she disappeared. She was pretty easy to spot and I saw her on Friday laying eggs as I was reviewing the 2 Q-cups that seemed to be generating a lot of activity before I went home. The are are the bottom of the frame. On Monday when I checked on them they had a different sound and I couldn't find the queen. No problem, I checked a few more times but when I was the emergency supersedure cell show up where she was last laying in the middle of the frame I figured she was gone. I've gone in there once since I thought she was gone to review and to rearrange the frames. I put the 2 frames with brood in them all the way at the bottom to reduce congestion at the entrance. They roared and fanned like they were queenless. I could be wrong but the signs are pointing to them being without a queen at this point.
That does sound like they are without a queen. But my first thought would be that she has swarmed already or is hiding out while she finishes her pre-swarm diet.
On one of my good hives, the queen hopped off the frame while inspecting and later she flew into the neighboring hive.
The workers created three emergency queen cells. All three emerged. The first two swarmed on the same day which I caught. The third remained in the colony.
But from what I heard, sometimes the first queen will destroy the other queen cells.
Quote from: caticind on May 24, 2011, 05:45:37 PMmy first thought would be that she has swarmed already or is hiding out while she finishes her pre-swarm diet.
I thought the same thing until I saw the emergency supersedure cells show up and there was no decrease at all in the population. This one has me a little confused.
Quote from: D Coates on May 24, 2011, 11:39:58 AM
The question I've got is with all of the info here, what are your thoughts of, will the first queen to emerge swarm or kill off the other queens and claim the hive as her own?
Quote from: montauk170 on May 24, 2011, 06:06:50 PM
The workers created three emergency queen cells. All three emerged. The first two swarmed on the same day which I caught. The third remained in the colony.
But from what I heard, sometimes the first queen will destroy the other queen cells.
Could go either way. In some of my colonies, I've had a row of queen cells that the first queen chewed her way through, but one of the swarms I caught last week (my bees), had an unmated queen, so it went the other way for them.
You could reduce your swarm chances by picking the best queen cell and getting rid of the rest, then put them in a bigger box. Or are you wanting to expand? Could you cut out the other queen cells and start other nucs?
I've got the equipment and desire to expand. Swarms calls have been VERY good this year too (just picked up my 5th primary). The 2 swarm cells in question are on the bottom/side of a deep frame. I've never been able to effectively remove one from a frame without damaging the queen. The swarm cell that was capped second is about 10% larger than the other cell and I would like to use it if I can. Side note: Has anyone tried to do this with cotton sewing thread that's gently pulled back and forth to heat & remove the wax at the base without deforming the cell? I'm planning on trying this when I get the chance.
The other 5 queen cells are buried deep in the middle of drawn plastic foundation so cutting them out is impossible. Because the OB hive is in my office and there are over 100 employees here I can't afford to work them until after hours (4:30) and you can understand my concern about a potential swarm. The weather here is predicted to be bad in the afternoon so working them after hours could be difficult to impossible and I'll be out of town all day tomorrow.