In the open floor joist under a building... Extremely docile bees, did not see the queen nor eggs but there was uncapped brood.
There were queen cells (2-3) on just about every active layer of comb... some in the middle and some at the bottom... there was at least one or more that were open so at some point something emerged?
Got 10 full frames of comb and a good 5-8 pounds of bees.
Everything went into open frames in a super- I shimmed the top with a queen excluder on top of the super. Blocked the bottom entrance so if she is in there everyone will hopefully stay put.
So without real knowledge of the queen's whereabouts what do I do - leave it all alone? :?
Buy a queen?
(http://s7.postimg.org/w3flh9vp3/iphone_3_8_2013_021.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/w3flh9vp3/)
(http://s12.postimg.org/nuzb8vpax/iphone_3_8_2013_027.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/nuzb8vpax/)
Regardless of the questions I have, it would be best to leave it alone. You may have the queen in there, and even if she isn't there, you have capped queen cells. That all sounds good.
But if I follow you, you now have 10 frames of cutout brood in a super, not in a hive body (deep). The hive is blocked so the bees can't get in or out.
Where is the hive now? Is it at the same site? Without knowing any more, it sounds like the bees need more room - either another super or a hive body. And are they totally closed up? I would let them continue going about their business and let them fly. They most likely will accept the hive you put them in.
I have them in a deep on my property... they have a screened bottom board but the entrance is blocked off. The lid is shimmed, no inner cover up creating a top entrance. There is a queen excluder on the top of the deep so foragers can come and go, just not the queen...
I'm 0-3 so far on swarms and collections... gonna make this one work!! :evil:
Got it. Sounds like a plan.
I've never had much of a problem with acceptance. My 2 cents: I would put the hive together, complete with inner cover, and open the entrance at least some, like usual. Then put a shallow super on to give the queen more room for the brood chamber. I would also feed them, check them in three days, and see if you have a laying queen or an emerged queen.
Sounds like you have a strong colony there!
Sounds like you have a virgin queen. She needs to go on her mating flights. If not she will lay all drones. You still have time, I recommend you let her out. The brood will anchor the hive to its new location. It is a swarm without brood that you want to keep the queen in but only for 3 days.
Jim