I picked up a nuc the 5th of May. Had about 4 frames of bees. By the end of that week, there was hardly any foraging going on and lots less bees. Since then, it's been quiet as the tomb in there...hardly any in and out activity.
Inspections showed eggs, larvae, capped brood...but never more than one frame at a time. Lots of new nurse bees, but the population never grew. Swarm cells on the bottom of that frame that kept getting moved. I thought maybe it had thrown a kind of "afterswarm", as the guy I got it from said the queen was an overwintered that he did a split on.
Today I was looking, and I saw "my" queen....then another. I don't think I'm mistaken, both of them had light golden brown abdomens, unlike the worker bees. One had tiny wings. In fact, "my" queen was thinking about flying off the top frame when I spotted her. She was bigger. Both had an entourage.
Should I split? Leave them alone? I don't think I have enough bees to split, really. I was actually going to get a frame of brood tomorrow for the sake of testing queenlessness on a package I just installed, but I still don't think I'd have enough to make any kind of decent split, but I'd love to have another hive if it's feasible.
I screened off the entrance for tonight and the am while I ponder this.
Inspections showed eggs, larvae, capped brood...but never more than one frame at a time. Lots of new nurse bees, but the population never grew. Swarm cells on the bottom of that frame that kept getting moved. I thought maybe it had thrown a kind of "afterswarm", as the guy I got it from said the queen was an overwintered that he did a split on.
Today I was looking, and I saw "my" queen....then another. I don't think I'm mistaken, both of them had light golden brown abdomens, unlike the worker bees. One had tiny wings. In fact, "my" queen was thinking about flying off the top frame when I spotted her. She was bigger. Both had an entourage.
Should I split? Leave them alone? I don't think I have enough bees to split, really. I was actually going to get a frame of brood tomorrow for the sake of testing queenlessness on a package I just installed, but I still don't think I'd have enough to make any kind of decent split, but I'd love to have another hive if it's feasible.
I screened off the entrance for tonight and the am while I ponder this.