Jack Oatmon
08-06-2008, 05:45 PM
Hello all!
I am located in Central New York. I have one hive (Hive #1) that I over wintered from a cutout last August 4th. Came through the winter well with one full brood chamber. I reversed the chambers this spring and everything was going well. Added a medium of empty Pierco frames and a plastic queen excluder on 5/25/08. The draw out of comb was slow and ugly to say the least. Cross comb was everywhere with no rhyme nor reason to the pattern. Since then the bees have been coming and going but no honey. I opened them yesterday and went all the way to the bottom. One frame with larva, no brood, most deep frames full of honey. No queen cells.
Caught a swarm (6/7/08) and put them into a BeeMax deep hive body (Hive #2). Drew out comb rapidly. I saw the queen and numerous frames of eggs, and larva and pollen within two weeks. I added another deep and was content to just get this hive established so they could make it through the winter. Opened it yesterday and much of the second hive body is filled with honey. No queen, no eggs, no larvae. Saw what looked like two supercedure cells.
Should I re-queen both hives now or is it too late? Should I harvest the honey and give them empty drawn out comb or save the honey to give them later? Should I re-queen just one and combine? Help!
I am located in Central New York. I have one hive (Hive #1) that I over wintered from a cutout last August 4th. Came through the winter well with one full brood chamber. I reversed the chambers this spring and everything was going well. Added a medium of empty Pierco frames and a plastic queen excluder on 5/25/08. The draw out of comb was slow and ugly to say the least. Cross comb was everywhere with no rhyme nor reason to the pattern. Since then the bees have been coming and going but no honey. I opened them yesterday and went all the way to the bottom. One frame with larva, no brood, most deep frames full of honey. No queen cells.
Caught a swarm (6/7/08) and put them into a BeeMax deep hive body (Hive #2). Drew out comb rapidly. I saw the queen and numerous frames of eggs, and larva and pollen within two weeks. I added another deep and was content to just get this hive established so they could make it through the winter. Opened it yesterday and much of the second hive body is filled with honey. No queen, no eggs, no larvae. Saw what looked like two supercedure cells.
Should I re-queen both hives now or is it too late? Should I harvest the honey and give them empty drawn out comb or save the honey to give them later? Should I re-queen just one and combine? Help!