I made the split about two weeks ago. I don't know if the queen ended up in the original hive or in this new one, which was placed about 15' away from the original. Today they swarmed and I caught it, and placed it elsewhere. At the time I was not sure were the swarm had come from. But my question in this post is about the hive were the swarm actually came from. What do I do next. Possibly there are a few queen cells about to hatch. Perhaps some already did... and there might be virgin queens fighting for their lifes and the reign of the hive. Or perhaps I will loose more bees in secondary swarms. How do I prevent that? Should I go and destroy all the queen cells I see, then wait for a few days (how many?) to make sure no virgin queen was left behind, ready to mate, and then put a nice nuc I have on top with the newspaper method? This hive (remember it's a recent split) is in two deep supers, but the top super was just starting to get drawn out. This queen makes mean bees I don't particularly care for, though they overwintered without any medication other that menthol and cords. Or should I just forget about this hive, let them do what they want to do, and use my nice nuc elsewhere...?
If I were to use the nuc here how and when could I put this nuc I have with a brand new queen already laying, without risking the nice queen?
Thanks,
Alejandro
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[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited May 18, 2003).]
If I were to use the nuc here how and when could I put this nuc I have with a brand new queen already laying, without risking the nice queen?
Thanks,
Alejandro
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[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited May 18, 2003).]