[Erna]

I am a new beekeeper, just going into my 2nd year. A week ago, I split one of my hives. The hive had started making queen cells so I knew it was high time. I left them one (I thought) queen cell, almost ready to cap. Today I checked the hive. They seemed very docile but active. The queen cell had hatched, but I found two more queen cells, already capped. I assume these are an insurance policy in case the queen is lost before she is bred and starts laying eggs. What should I do. I am worried about after-swarms once the queen starts laying. I could create 2 nucs. Is this a good idea?

 

[tsmullins]

If you had the resources, I would create a split/splits from those queen cells.

 

[GaryG74]

Are there eggs and young larva in the hive? Have they swarmed? You could make the two nucs for insurance and use one to combine with hive if the queen doesn't come back from her mating flight. Usually they will swarm before queen cells are capped unless the cells are emergency or supercedure cells. Depends on whether there is a queen in the hive. Don't really have enough info to tell you exactly what's happening but making the two nucs (if the cells are on different frames) would be what I would do. Good luck which ever way you go.

 

[Erna]

The new queen would have just hatched, so no eggs yet. They wouldn't swarm with a brand new queen not mated yet, would they? I assume the two capped queen cells are emergency cells. The cells are on different frames, so I will make two nucs. Thanks.

 

[FlowerPlanter]

>They wouldn't swarm with a brand new queen not mated yet, would they?
yes those are after swarms

I would split like Gary said.