swarm question from over crowding

[goertzen29]

I've been reading on this and I want a little confirmation...I have two hives and I think one of them swarmed out, here's my situation. 

I added a medium super with new foundation and in about 2 weeks they had it 1/2-2/3 full, but there was a bunch of brood in it and I didnt have another super ready to go so I thought I'd wait until my next inspection to add another super.  My problem was I didn't have my equipment so I didnt do a good job looking and probably would have realized that my 2 deep brood chambers were completley full of honey and pollen.  So earlier this week (10 days later) I did a proper inspection and realized the population was way down from my other hive.  There were no eggs but some uncapped larva and basically no empty comb.  There were some queen cells on the bottom of one frame but they were connected to the frame below it and tore open when I lifted that frame up (b/c I couldn't see them).  So I assume they swarmed b/c there was no room for growth???

Will they repair the queen cells I accidentally tore open (I dont think they were smashed, just opened)?

How long should I wait to see if they are going to produce a new queen before I need to worry about laying workers? 

Should I add another frame of eggs and brood from my other hive to help them out? 

I guess my main questions are when do I need to take action and how long should I wait to see if they are going to produce a new queen?

thanks
Jay

[Michael Bush]

>I added a medium super with new foundation and in about 2 weeks they had it 1/2-2/3 full, but there was a bunch of brood in it and I didnt have another super ready to go so I thought I'd wait until my next inspection to add another super.  My problem was I didn't have my equipment so I didnt do a good job looking and probably would have realized that my 2 deep brood chambers were completley full of honey and pollen.

That would have been done on purpose to prepare to swarm, unless they were totally out of room, in which case it might just be overcrowding...

> So earlier this week (10 days later) I did a proper inspection and realized the population was way down from my other hive.  There were no eggs but some uncapped larva and basically no empty comb.

Classic signs of swarming.

> There were some queen cells on the bottom of one frame but they were connected to the frame below it and tore open when I lifted that frame up (b/c I couldn't see them).  So I assume they swarmed b/c there was no room for growth???

Possibly or because it's what they do...  reproducing is the second goal of every hive right after survival.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

>Will they repair the queen cells I accidentally tore open (I dont think they were smashed, just opened)?

Probably not.  Once they are capped they start spinning a cocoon.  If you interrupt that odds are they will just remove them.  But if they JUST got capped, they MIGHT repair them.

>How long should I wait to see if they are going to produce a new queen before I need to worry about laying workers?

It's how long they are without open brood that causes laying workers.  Queenlessness is not the real issue.  So if you give them a frame of open brood from another hive you will ensure they do not develop laying workers.  From the time they no longer have open brood it can be as short as ten days to get laying workers.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm

>Should I add another frame of eggs and brood from my other hive to help them out?

Yes.  Always good insurance.

>I guess my main questions are when do I need to take action and how long should I wait to see if they are going to produce a new queen?

If you give them a frame of open brood then they have a fallback.  Meanwhile there are probably other queen cells you missed anyway.

[goertzen29]

Thanks, I'll try to get a frame of open brood in there tomorrow.