Requeen a swarm or let them do it?

[Rob-bee]

I got a swarm in April and when I checked the hive this week I broke some queen cells when lifting up the brood box. So I figure it was an old queen that went with swarm and they are ready to replace her, or swarm again. {I really donÂ’t know what they are going to do}. They are feral bees, and a little more aggressive than the Italians that I got in May. So what would you do in this situation? I know I need to look inside and learn about them and what is normal and what is not. But it seems like I do more damage by looking inside. I am looking in once a week. Sometimes just a peek in the top and others to sugar dust the whole hive.

[Robert Hawkins]

It's not uncommon for a swarm to requeen shortly after they've hived. Three months later is a long time but the principle stands. Let them.

I think it's illegal to let yuour hives get in such bad condition that you can't inspect them. If it breaks the cells, oh well. You gotta inspect. I'm a big believer in not damaging a queen cell. They're very valuable. But you've got to inpect your hives.

If you have proved that your feral hive is not mite resistant, (way too soon to prove that) you can requeen them with one of your Italians. But we don't want to lose any feral genes until that has been established.

Hawk

[Joel]

How do you know they're feral bees? Your assumption on the old queen is probably right or you may have killed her in your manipulations. If you're in there once a week that's probably to much disruption. Let them handle the requeen if they've already started. Mite resistant genes, sting resitant jeans, you're going to have mites and you do need to keep track levels.