I just opened my topbar hive for a last inspection. I saw the queen, some capped brood, and whay seemed to me a lot of stores. I also saw two peanut shaped cells on the outside edge toward the bottom of one comb. It is getting cold now at nite here and I do not think they would have much chance if they swarmed. I have another topbar hive I could do a split but I think it is late in the year. Anything I should do?
>I also saw two peanut shaped cells on the outside edge toward the bottom of one comb.
Are they pointed down? Sometimes a drone cell looks like a queen cell at first sight but then you realize it runs horizontally.
>It is getting cold now at nite here and I do not think they would have much chance if they swarmed.
Where is "here"?
>I have another topbar hive I could do a split but I think it is late in the year.
It's certainly late in the year here. I don't know about "there".
>Anything I should do?
I'd try to determine for sure if they are queen cells. I'd be tempted to destroy them this time of year, just because it's a bad time to be doing a split (here at least). And it's late enough I would think it wouldn't be that hard to discourage them from swarming (as opposed to discouraging them in the late spring which I don't think works once they make up their mind). But if they really are queen cells, I suppose you could do a split, wait a few weeks (or more depending on how far South you live) and then recombine.
Here is northern Indiana. I just looked again and they look to me like queen cells, pointing downward. One of the two had a bee in it, because I could see its head.
So they aren't capped yet? It seems unlikely they will mate properly this time of year. It seems unlikly they are swarm cells given your Northern location and the time of year. But who knows what bees are thinking?
One is capped. Maybe the one that is open had a worker in it? It was comming out head first. I guess I will take the attitude the bees know what they are doing. It amazes me how much I want to stick my nose in their "business". I will let them alone.
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