Joined
·
6 Posts
Hello beekeepers,
I’m in need of some advice if you don’t mind!
I’ve had bees for about 2 years now, I have 2 hives, but still not quite sure what I’m doing. I really don’t have a good support system, as our bee club is not that great. Below is what we did this week with the hives to make splits and get ready for the honey flow. What I need to know is what SHOULD I have done that I didn’t do and can I still do it now.
We opened both the hives on Tuesday, the 18th to make splits
Both hives boiling over with bees
Saw queen cells – didn’t see the queen
Used 2 deep boxes to split both hives:
Took a frame of brood, honey, pollen, and a frame with queen cells and placed in the new hives (put empty frames in place of removed ones)
Put queen excluder and one honey super on both original hives
Didn’t go through all frames in the original hives
Feeding all bees 1:1 sugar water
On Thursday the 20th, I was not at home, but my sister was – she watched a bee swarm, but was not sure that the bees came from one of our hives. I checked the hives that evening when I got home and there were still a significant amount of bees in the hives, so I don’t believe these were my bees.
Should I have gone through all frames and removed all queen cells?
Should I have reversed the deeps on the hives?
Is there anything I should do now?
Pic of the swarm in my pear tree.
All the hives seem to be doing great – a lot of activity.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I’m in need of some advice if you don’t mind!
I’ve had bees for about 2 years now, I have 2 hives, but still not quite sure what I’m doing. I really don’t have a good support system, as our bee club is not that great. Below is what we did this week with the hives to make splits and get ready for the honey flow. What I need to know is what SHOULD I have done that I didn’t do and can I still do it now.
We opened both the hives on Tuesday, the 18th to make splits
Both hives boiling over with bees
Saw queen cells – didn’t see the queen
Used 2 deep boxes to split both hives:
Took a frame of brood, honey, pollen, and a frame with queen cells and placed in the new hives (put empty frames in place of removed ones)
Put queen excluder and one honey super on both original hives
Didn’t go through all frames in the original hives
Feeding all bees 1:1 sugar water
On Thursday the 20th, I was not at home, but my sister was – she watched a bee swarm, but was not sure that the bees came from one of our hives. I checked the hives that evening when I got home and there were still a significant amount of bees in the hives, so I don’t believe these were my bees.
Should I have gone through all frames and removed all queen cells?
Should I have reversed the deeps on the hives?
Is there anything I should do now?

Pic of the swarm in my pear tree.
All the hives seem to be doing great – a lot of activity.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!