So I had a Jester 5-frame box with a couple of frames of brood/resources and a Russian queen (from Coy's) about 4-5 week ago. At one point I swapped out a frame to capitalize on a couple of active uncapped Russian queen cells (as they keep spares). I put those in a different nuc to finish them.
Last Friday there was barely room for one more bee in the Jester box, brood laid all the way out to the outside. There were several capped queen cells on one frame. I put them in a 10-frame deep with 4 extra blanks and a frame feeder. On Monday the capped queen cells had been torn down and the original queen is still there. I'm a little disappointed I didn't just grab them and let them emerge elsewhere, but didn't realize they could/would reverse course and call off the swarm so quickly.
Many folks say that after the QCs are capped, swarming is imminent. Do other bees call it off if you relieve the crowding? Thanks as always
Quote from: JojoBeeBoy on July 15, 2020, 10:30:18 AM
So I had a Jester 5-frame box with a couple of frames of brood/resources and a Russian queen (from Coy's) about 4-5 week ago. At one point I swapped out a frame to capitalize on a couple of active uncapped Russian queen cells (as they keep spares). I put those in a different nuc to finish them.
Last Friday there was barely room for one more bee in the Jester box, brood laid all the way out to the outside. There were several capped queen cells on one frame. I put them in a 10-frame deep with 4 extra blanks and a frame feeder. On Monday the capped queen cells had been torn down and the original queen is still there. I'm a little disappointed I didn't just grab them and let them emerge elsewhere, but didn't realize they could/would reverse course and call off the swarm so quickly.
Many folks say that after the QCs are capped, swarming is imminent. Do other bees call it off if you relieve the crowding? Thanks as always
Jojo, I have been taught as you. Once capped that is it. Bees, no set rules so it seems?
One thing that Robo taught me when I first joined and started posting here is there there are basic, but no set in stone rules. Many read books and take it as a solid rigid fact and become book experts. Those are not his exact words but basically it. I have tried to remember those words of wisdom.
I think that the chaos caused by putting them into a box with heaps of room has broken the rule.
Did the bees decide that they didn't need them or were they disorientated by the shift just pulled them down.
Might be new rule, disorientate the bees with a bigger box and new frames to break the swarming cycle.
Remember "the bees are female, they make the rules and they will break them when they want to".
This is from personal experience.
I was thinking the same thing as Oldbeavo.
Good point oldbeavo
Quote from: Oldbeavo on July 16, 2020, 07:31:02 PM
I think that the chaos caused by putting them into a box with heaps of room has broken the rule.
Did the bees decide that they didn't need them or were they disorientated by the shift just pulled them down.
Might be new rule, disorientate the bees with a bigger box and new frames to break the swarming cycle.
Remember "the bees are female, they make the rules and they will break them when they want to".
This is from personal experience.
8-9 days later they were tearing the side out of another capped QC that had not yet spun a cocoon. I don't doubt the trauma theory, but they are settled in at this point and seem to play by different rules. I had always heard they would keep spares, I just didn't know they would take them all the way to capped. Thanks