This is my first year beekeeping. I've been reading about swarming and queen cells, but I only have a few and am not sure if I need to do more than break up the brood nest to give more room.
I have two hives given to me by a nice beekeeper, that are booming with bees. I put the empty second deeps on 2 weeks ago with undrawn duragilt foundation. But, they have only drawn a bit of wax up to the bottom of the new frames in the 2nd box. And there are now a TON more bees in the bottom deep. With no drawn comb above, the queens must both be feeling crowded. Today I found a few scattered empty queen cells (4 or 5) in the carniolan hive, along with a group of 3 queen cells at the bottom of one frame, two of which have fat white uncapped larva in them.
My second hive (the italians) only had 3 or 4 scattered empty queen cells in it -- no larva.
So, I pulled up 4 frames, (2 brood and 2 honey) put them in the top box with a blank foundation frame between each one. I replaced them with blank foundation below. I did this on both hives. I'm hoping this will get the workers to draw out more foundation for their queens.
Do I still need to split the carniolan hive to prevent a swarm, or is the one group of 3 queen cells with larva not enough to worry about?
The two hives are also in my backyard where I can see them every day, and would hopefully be able to catch a swarm, if they do.
Thanks for any help!
Misty
I have two hives given to me by a nice beekeeper, that are booming with bees. I put the empty second deeps on 2 weeks ago with undrawn duragilt foundation. But, they have only drawn a bit of wax up to the bottom of the new frames in the 2nd box. And there are now a TON more bees in the bottom deep. With no drawn comb above, the queens must both be feeling crowded. Today I found a few scattered empty queen cells (4 or 5) in the carniolan hive, along with a group of 3 queen cells at the bottom of one frame, two of which have fat white uncapped larva in them.
My second hive (the italians) only had 3 or 4 scattered empty queen cells in it -- no larva.
So, I pulled up 4 frames, (2 brood and 2 honey) put them in the top box with a blank foundation frame between each one. I replaced them with blank foundation below. I did this on both hives. I'm hoping this will get the workers to draw out more foundation for their queens.
Do I still need to split the carniolan hive to prevent a swarm, or is the one group of 3 queen cells with larva not enough to worry about?
The two hives are also in my backyard where I can see them every day, and would hopefully be able to catch a swarm, if they do.
Thanks for any help!
Misty