Holy ?!$% Swarm cells

Shanevrr · June 26, 2011, 10:29:05 AM

why im i getting swarm cells allready. its been from april 15 since install. I have two deeps both full of comb. Should i just add my medium supers to fix this?

G3farms · June 26, 2011, 10:57:34 AM

Too late to add supers, they have swarming on their mind.

You can locate the queen and split the hive. Take the old queen and split up the frames pretty equally moving the old queen to a new location. Leave the queen cells and other half in the original location.

This is a false swarm and might work for you.

Shanevrr · June 26, 2011, 11:18:41 AM

its not to late to split?

Larry Bees · June 26, 2011, 11:57:27 AM

Either you make the split or they are going to do it on their own.

schawee · June 26, 2011, 12:21:38 PM

Make the Split now like g3 said .if th swarm cells are on two different frames you can come out with three hives if you have extra boxes or a nuc. ....Schawee

G3farms · June 26, 2011, 12:42:57 PM

No not too late to split, not sure of the flow in your area but if it is like here, I would put some 1 to 1 syrup to them.

slacker361 · June 26, 2011, 01:08:23 PM

I am very new to this so take what I say with a grain of salt, or shot of whiskey... My hive last year constantly had swarm cells.. and yet they never swarmed... I looked at it as the "union" send the "Management" a warning that they would strike if she didnt pick things up..... I dunno like I said new to this, but that is what I saw last year on the first year hive.....

L Daxon · June 26, 2011, 02:27:47 PM

Last year were you seeing queen cups with no larva in them? Bees will keep a few empty cups around from time to time, kind of in case of emergency.

Shanevrr · June 26, 2011, 02:36:13 PM

OK find old queen and take half on the frames and move to a diff box. and yes they are new cells, were not there two weeks ago and these hives are only 2 months old.

slacker361 · June 26, 2011, 02:38:42 PM

Quote from: ldaxon on June 26, 2011, 02:27:47 PM
Last year were you seeing queen cups with no larva in them? Bees will keep a few empty cups around from time to time, kind of in case of emergency.

With last year being my first hive, of course I was in there more than I should have been. The queen cells were supercedure and swarm, empty and full , and from week to week it would change, not sure if the established queen was coming in and killing the unborn queen or what...but that is just what this untrained eye saw.....

G3farms · June 26, 2011, 03:14:19 PM

Are the swarm cells capped?

Queen cups can be present at all times, but if there IS an egg or larva in it then it is going to be a queen cell. Even if you do split the hive and there are only queen cups, they will still raise a queen if there are eggs present.

Queen cups (IMHO) are there just to keep the queen on her toes, lets her know she can be replaced at any given time :lol: :lol:.

VolunteerK9 · June 26, 2011, 03:54:52 PM

If they are capped queen cells and not just empty cups like mentioned above, take a few frames along with the queen a start a nuc. If you still have your poor performing queen in your other hive you have posted about, you could do a newspaper combine with the newly formed nuc and your slow hive. My .02 though

Shanevrr · June 26, 2011, 03:58:41 PM

i got all kinds of crazy stuff going on.

VolunteerK9 · June 26, 2011, 04:02:28 PM

Quote from: Shanevrr on June 26, 2011, 03:58:41 PM
i got all kinds of crazy stuff going on.

Welcome to the wonderful world of bees. Find you some plans for a robber screen and have a few on hand-they work wonders.