Hello. I can’t find a thread on this topic, so I need to get some advice.
I’m a new beekeeper, and one of my new package hives swarmed 2 weeks ago (Carniolans). I had two deeps on and had just put a honey super on, pulled their feeder, and thought all was well. Then they swarmed later that day. I found the swarm very near my two hives, cut it down and rehived the swarm in a new hive box. They have stayed, so it could have been worse.
I left the honey super on the hive that had the swarm leave, and the girls have done nothing with any frames in that super. Am I out of luck with that hive for any honey this year? I can imagine that a swarm would disrupt all but rearing a new queen. If I’m out of luck, I’d like to get that super off and use it elsewhere.
I’m also wanting to inspect that hive to see if it’s queenright, but it’s got two deeps on it, and I imagine that inspection would be difficult for me. Should I do a full inspection to see if the new queen got mated and back to the hive?
Thanks for any opinions you experienced beeks might have.
I’m a new beekeeper, and one of my new package hives swarmed 2 weeks ago (Carniolans). I had two deeps on and had just put a honey super on, pulled their feeder, and thought all was well. Then they swarmed later that day. I found the swarm very near my two hives, cut it down and rehived the swarm in a new hive box. They have stayed, so it could have been worse.
I left the honey super on the hive that had the swarm leave, and the girls have done nothing with any frames in that super. Am I out of luck with that hive for any honey this year? I can imagine that a swarm would disrupt all but rearing a new queen. If I’m out of luck, I’d like to get that super off and use it elsewhere.
I’m also wanting to inspect that hive to see if it’s queenright, but it’s got two deeps on it, and I imagine that inspection would be difficult for me. Should I do a full inspection to see if the new queen got mated and back to the hive?
Thanks for any opinions you experienced beeks might have.