Due to being in a cast and having some drizzly weather I only pulled out one frame. I saw eggs, young wet larvae, a little pollen, and 3 large queen cups in the middle of the frame that didn't appear to have eggs in them.
I added a super above a queen excluder in case those were swarm cells and they need more space. They looked a little more like supercedure cells to me but the queen is laying well and is only in her second year so I'm not sure.
If I catch a break in the rain, should I split the colony? I don't really want increase but don't want to lose a swarm either. Or should I wait to see if there are capped queen cells when I return in a week?
I'm in central NY so swarm season is just getting started, I think. The colony is in a double deep brood chamber and I moved a lot of the brood down to the lower box two weeks ago. Their numbers are pretty strong but the boxes aren't like overflowing with bees.
Oh, and they're Italians not Russians so the cups probably mean something.
Thanks for any tips.
I added a super above a queen excluder in case those were swarm cells and they need more space. They looked a little more like supercedure cells to me but the queen is laying well and is only in her second year so I'm not sure.
If I catch a break in the rain, should I split the colony? I don't really want increase but don't want to lose a swarm either. Or should I wait to see if there are capped queen cells when I return in a week?
I'm in central NY so swarm season is just getting started, I think. The colony is in a double deep brood chamber and I moved a lot of the brood down to the lower box two weeks ago. Their numbers are pretty strong but the boxes aren't like overflowing with bees.
Oh, and they're Italians not Russians so the cups probably mean something.
Thanks for any tips.