Can somebody tell me how this works?

[Tia]

One of the hives I purchased in March was a single deep. I gave them a medium almost immediately because it was a very strong, full hive and added a medium over a queen excluder on April 28. On May 18 this hive swarmed and yesterday (May 22) issued an afterswarm. Both were good size, have been retrieved and hived. My question is, how does the queen thing work in a situation like this? I know the old queen went with the first swarm. Did the afterswarm issue with a virgin queeen? Should I be watching for a virgin flight on both this and the original hive? Should I go in the hives immediately to see what the story is, or wait a week to let them settle in? I know it takes a virgin queen some time to get "up and running." How long? What should I be looking for? Any and all help is appreciated.

[Michael Bush]

>Did the afterswarm issue with a virgin queeen?

Yes.

>Should I be watching for a virgin flight on both this and the original hive?

If you want to, yes. They will both have to mate. But thwy will do it without you're watching. smile.gif

>Should I go in the hives immediately to see what the story is, or wait a week to let them settle in?

It will be a couple of weeks before the queens settle down to laying. Before that they are very hard to find. I wouldn't open them for two weeks.

>I know it takes a virgin queen some time to get "up and running." How long?

Two weeks.

>What should I be looking for?

In two weeks I'd look for eggs. If you don't find them check again in another week. If you don't find any, get a queen or give them some eggs.