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Had a dental appointment this morning and took the whole day off, so I decided to get my hive inspections out of the way. Found plenty to be nervous about. I have one top bar hive and two foundationless Langstroths (all medium 10 frame equipment).
My last inspection of the TBH was on May 11th. This hive is (was) a "beast" and came out of winter very strong. Population was booming early on so I cut out some brood combs and put in empty bars to give them some space. Didn't matter. They had built back all of the comb in no time and upon my inspection on May 11th, I found the brood chamber back-filled and counted no less than 17 capped queen cells. That isn't a typo. I could find no sign of the original marked queen and most of the brood was either capped or older C-shaped. No eggs and no young larvae. So, I tried to make a cut-out split with some of the queen cells, brood, and nurse bees (it didn't take) and cut out all but 3 of the remaining queen cells. Closed up the TBH with the 3 cells and hoped for the best.
They swarmed on Sunday May 25th, then again the following day. My wife and kids were home to witness it, but I have been working away for the past couple of weeks and could only get the updates in the field. Of course, neither swarm went to my two bait hives.
Today was the first opportunity I have had since getting back to check on things. The TBH had no signs of eggs or brood in any stage. Bees were not overly aggressive, but were tearing down what remained of any old cells. Could no locate a virgin queen. I was inspecting between about 10:30 and noon. Could she be out on a mating flight, or did they swarm a third time and leave behind no queen?
Now for the Langstroths. Both hives were purchased spring nucs...one appeared weaker than the other and during an inspection (also on the 11th), the workers appeared to be superceding the queen in the weaker colony. She was there at that time, but they had capped a few cells. During my inspection today, I spotted a queen, but saw no signs of brood in any stage. I caught this queen and marked her. I am thinking that she is newly mated or a virgin and just hasn't started laying. She seemed "hyperactive" like a virgin queen and was very hard to catch. These bees were a bit feisty.
The other Lang had been fairly strong and was building up fast, but today I could not locate a queen and only saw capped brood (both worker and drone). I did locate a capped queen cell in this hive. Maybe she got rolled? Remember that split from the TBH? Went into it and found just a handful of bees on a frame with one of the cells I put in on May 11th. I'm assuming the cell was just a dud (don't think the math works out), but stuck it in the Lang anyway as insurance.
Should I be ordering some mating queens?
Any suggestions?
Sorry for the long post...its been a rough spring.
Matt M.
My last inspection of the TBH was on May 11th. This hive is (was) a "beast" and came out of winter very strong. Population was booming early on so I cut out some brood combs and put in empty bars to give them some space. Didn't matter. They had built back all of the comb in no time and upon my inspection on May 11th, I found the brood chamber back-filled and counted no less than 17 capped queen cells. That isn't a typo. I could find no sign of the original marked queen and most of the brood was either capped or older C-shaped. No eggs and no young larvae. So, I tried to make a cut-out split with some of the queen cells, brood, and nurse bees (it didn't take) and cut out all but 3 of the remaining queen cells. Closed up the TBH with the 3 cells and hoped for the best.
They swarmed on Sunday May 25th, then again the following day. My wife and kids were home to witness it, but I have been working away for the past couple of weeks and could only get the updates in the field. Of course, neither swarm went to my two bait hives.
Today was the first opportunity I have had since getting back to check on things. The TBH had no signs of eggs or brood in any stage. Bees were not overly aggressive, but were tearing down what remained of any old cells. Could no locate a virgin queen. I was inspecting between about 10:30 and noon. Could she be out on a mating flight, or did they swarm a third time and leave behind no queen?
Now for the Langstroths. Both hives were purchased spring nucs...one appeared weaker than the other and during an inspection (also on the 11th), the workers appeared to be superceding the queen in the weaker colony. She was there at that time, but they had capped a few cells. During my inspection today, I spotted a queen, but saw no signs of brood in any stage. I caught this queen and marked her. I am thinking that she is newly mated or a virgin and just hasn't started laying. She seemed "hyperactive" like a virgin queen and was very hard to catch. These bees were a bit feisty.
The other Lang had been fairly strong and was building up fast, but today I could not locate a queen and only saw capped brood (both worker and drone). I did locate a capped queen cell in this hive. Maybe she got rolled? Remember that split from the TBH? Went into it and found just a handful of bees on a frame with one of the cells I put in on May 11th. I'm assuming the cell was just a dud (don't think the math works out), but stuck it in the Lang anyway as insurance.
Should I be ordering some mating queens?
Any suggestions?
Sorry for the long post...its been a rough spring.
Matt M.
