Hello all,
I went out to my strongest hive today looking to rob a frame of open brood to give to another (presumably queenless) hive with laying worker(s)... , there were lots of bees flying, foragers returning with pollen, etc.This is a three-medium-deep hive that seemed to over winter very well and has been booming so far this spring.
Anyhow, after looking through the top two boxes, i was unable to find any eggs or open brood. plenty of capped worker brood, and more capped drone brood that i had seen before. When I began pulling frames from the 2nd box I found 3-4 swarm cells along the bottom of at least 3 frames (i didnt' check them all). I saw one bee begin emerging from one of the swarm cells, and two of the swarm cells had already been vacated.
Not sure what to do next. is it too late to split? There seem to be a LOT of bees still in this hive, so I don't think they have already swarmed. I didn't see the queen, but i didn't spend a lot of time looking; i figured i should close up and ask for advice.
thanks in advance
I went out to my strongest hive today looking to rob a frame of open brood to give to another (presumably queenless) hive with laying worker(s)... , there were lots of bees flying, foragers returning with pollen, etc.This is a three-medium-deep hive that seemed to over winter very well and has been booming so far this spring.
Anyhow, after looking through the top two boxes, i was unable to find any eggs or open brood. plenty of capped worker brood, and more capped drone brood that i had seen before. When I began pulling frames from the 2nd box I found 3-4 swarm cells along the bottom of at least 3 frames (i didnt' check them all). I saw one bee begin emerging from one of the swarm cells, and two of the swarm cells had already been vacated.
Not sure what to do next. is it too late to split? There seem to be a LOT of bees still in this hive, so I don't think they have already swarmed. I didn't see the queen, but i didn't spend a lot of time looking; i figured i should close up and ask for advice.
thanks in advance