[hex0rz]

Alright, so I tried to call a local bee place, the place I actually bought my nucs from in fact. Everything was going good until I started getting swarm cells in my stronger hive and supersedure cells in my weaker one. I admit, I did make a mistake. The weak one had a supersedure cell that I cut out. Put it in a tupperware container on top of the tv. The next day she hatched out! I did not think I could keep her alive very long to introduce her nor did I have the time to try and bank her. So I made her into queen lure.

I cut out all of the cells I could find in both hives. Being careful not to try and puncture the queen cell itself. That night, I made a frame for queen banking. Here is mistake #2, I think. I did what I thought I needed to do, to relieve the swarm impulse. I took the makeshift queen bank, put it into my weak hive and thought I could get them to take care of them when they hatched. Well, I think since the original queen was still in there, they were tearing them down. At this time, I also made a split off of the stronger one. Put one of the cells into the nuc box with some frames.

A week later, I checked them on this past monday.

I think I had the queen from the strong hive on a frame when I put it into the nuc box. As I checked it and there is a laying queen. No way that cell could hatch that quick and be laying, right? So I think she tore down the cell I had in that nuc box. Now, the strong hive is queenless because of it, and I counted 9 cells in it. The weak hive, I think the queen must have died or was killed. Could they have swarmed? I counted 18 cells in that hive.

By doing the math, and assuming the bees used newly laid eggs and not eggs at the 3 day mark, next tuesday is when I'm thinking they will hatch out. When I looked at them, they were already capped. So this had to of happened after I did the last inspection the week before or the day after that inspection.

So I was thinking of my options, tell me what you guys think.

1. Take the laying queen and introduce it back into the strong hive. Get her to start laying in a bigger box than 5 frames. Take the frames from the strong hive and put it into the nuc box the queen came from. Take the cells from the weak hive and some bees and stores and put it into another nuc box. Order a queen for the weaker hive and I should have 2 laying hives again with 2 nucs as a split.

2. Do all the above mentioned except, dont order a queen for the weaker hive and do a combine instead for one strong hive.

Right now, the clover in my field is flowing and I want to make the most of it. So I'm wondering if option 2 is better as I think I could make better use of a strong hive for the flow and split later?

Well, I'll let you guys tell me what you think is best... Thanks for the advice!

 

[Bees of SC]

We all make mistakes but why did you cut it out and put it on the TV? I want to keep track of this one.

 

[mathesonequip]

too complicated for me.

 

[tanksbees]

Ok, i'm lost, but you said both hives have queen cells, so just close the box and leave them alone for 30 days, and then check for eggs and larva.

Beekeeping is not a participation sport!

 

[franktrujillo]

leave the weak hive alone and let them re-queen there selves it's already weak.as far as your strong hives goes since you took there queen they also will re-queen there selves so they wont feel the need to swarm switch positions with the weak hive that will boost there population.now with the split you made take 2 frames of capped brood and place it in the split you did that should give you a good size nuc don't cut any cells out of either boxes.

 

[WBVC]

Actually doesn't sound bad at all.

Correct me if I am wrong...the bees have bailed you out.

New nuc with Queen that is laying...yeah!

Two hives with multiple Queen cells with good chance of mated virgins down the road...yeah!

 

[hex0rz]

I had put it on the TV because it generates heat and was worried the cell would not be warm enough.

Last night while I was at work, doing a task that did not require my needed attention I got on the web and looked up bee math. Thats when I came to the realization I was even more screwed than I was! I did not figure my math right.

Lo and behold my re-calculations were confirmed today. I just got back from doing an inspection. The stronger hive, has 3 cells that emerged from the tips. I did not count 9 any longer but 5, I believe. The other remaining were chewed from the side.

So, this hive has a queen now, but they also had a swarm, right? I notice a difference in bee population.. I guess I just helped donate to the local area feral population...

The weaker one is soon to emerge. I cut out a couple cells that I perceived to be swarm cells and not supersedure. I'm still somewhat confused on the definition of one. Much conflicting information on what a swarm cell is vs a supersedure.

I've got some good backfilling of nectar going on, but I have an empty box on the bottom. Some of those frames are drawn out ready for the queen to lay.

I took a frame or two from the laying nuc box with stores and bees and made another split with some of the cells I cut...

I received a call back from the local bee place I got my bees from. I'm indifferent about their attitude. I think there is a few good men on here who really know what they are talking about. They must be, because they give speeches. The bee place told me not to listen to anyone on the forums, etc. I can understand that to a point as alot of people do tend to armchair things.

He told me to cut all the cells out and buy 2 queens from him. He stressed the idea about losing out on nectar flow and may not even have any bees left to tend by the time the queen lays. A hopelessly queen-less kind of thing, I guess?

Well, I think I'm too late anyways as these queens emerged. I guess I will play the waiting game...

BTW, what really got me was when I read on Michael Bush's site about the queen cells. I did not realize that you can judge the timing of emergence by whether or not the tip of the cell is papery or still has a wax layer on it. This really helped me out checking the cells today!

Thanks for that good tidbit, Mr. Bush!

ALSO, I found a single larva on the frame rest today, too. About 1 inch long, I squashed that puppy with my hive tool. Wax moth, right?

This also give me an increasing motivation to start my own queen castle. I don't want to be caught without queens like this again!