My 1-year old hive has swarmed 3 times in the past few weeks. I caught the first swarm which contained the original queen. She seems to be doing great in her new home.
Question #1 -- Swarm #2 left the parent colony on May 1. This hive is a bit cranky, but have been taking sugar syrup well. Today (May 19, I opened it up for inspection. They have drawn only 2 frames of comb and have started on a third. What has been drawn is filling with honey (from the syrup, no doubt), but there are no eggs or larvae. There are a relatively small amount of bees in this hive. Should I wait longer, or assume this hive is queenless and combine it with another colony?
Swarm #3 got away.
Question #2 -- On May 6, I thoroughly inspected the original parent colony, destroyed TONS of swarm cells (these girls were going crazy), but left one that looked to be more of a supercedure cell, (up high on one frame rather than hanging from the bottom bar) and also, as I scraped one of the last swarm cells off, a new queen emerged and walked right onto my hive tool, so I placed her in the hive, several frames away from the supercedure cell. Today (May 19), I went back to inspect, fully expecting to find larvae or at least eggs, but saw no sign of either. The weather HAS been a bit iffy this past week or so. Still, the hive is populace and they seem to be brining in both nectar and pollen. Again, my question is could it be possible the queen simply has not had time to mate yet? Should I give them another few days or should I assume them queenless? If queenless, I will probably take a frame of brood from swarm #1 and let them raise their own queen.
Please advise! I'm having bee anxiety! All this after getting through my first season last year with a great honey crop and a hive that performed by the book!
Thanks! Spyderette
Question #1 -- Swarm #2 left the parent colony on May 1. This hive is a bit cranky, but have been taking sugar syrup well. Today (May 19, I opened it up for inspection. They have drawn only 2 frames of comb and have started on a third. What has been drawn is filling with honey (from the syrup, no doubt), but there are no eggs or larvae. There are a relatively small amount of bees in this hive. Should I wait longer, or assume this hive is queenless and combine it with another colony?
Swarm #3 got away.
Question #2 -- On May 6, I thoroughly inspected the original parent colony, destroyed TONS of swarm cells (these girls were going crazy), but left one that looked to be more of a supercedure cell, (up high on one frame rather than hanging from the bottom bar) and also, as I scraped one of the last swarm cells off, a new queen emerged and walked right onto my hive tool, so I placed her in the hive, several frames away from the supercedure cell. Today (May 19), I went back to inspect, fully expecting to find larvae or at least eggs, but saw no sign of either. The weather HAS been a bit iffy this past week or so. Still, the hive is populace and they seem to be brining in both nectar and pollen. Again, my question is could it be possible the queen simply has not had time to mate yet? Should I give them another few days or should I assume them queenless? If queenless, I will probably take a frame of brood from swarm #1 and let them raise their own queen.
Please advise! I'm having bee anxiety! All this after getting through my first season last year with a great honey crop and a hive that performed by the book!
Thanks! Spyderette