Hello,
Strong, two year old hive with two 10-frame deeps and a medium super. This hive swarmed on me twice this year (have spent the last two months reading every possible book, website, and forum to prevent this next year).
A little over a week ago there was ample brood and bees in the hive and lots of activity at the entrance. I remember even thinking that "wow" this hive still has lots of bees to have swarmed twice already. So many bees in fact that I switched out some frames from the lower box with empty frames to give the queen more room to lay. Then I even added a second super expecting them to go nuts. I didn't see any queen cells.
I had to go out of town for four days. I just went back in and found no brood, lots of uncapped honey and a tremendous amount of pollen in the lower box. The second box has some honey but no brood either. I did see the queen but sensed that there were less bees than in the last inspection. They were also more protective this time.
Has the queen failed? Did they swarm on me for a third time and left me with an unmated queen who has yet to lay?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Barndt
Strong, two year old hive with two 10-frame deeps and a medium super. This hive swarmed on me twice this year (have spent the last two months reading every possible book, website, and forum to prevent this next year).
A little over a week ago there was ample brood and bees in the hive and lots of activity at the entrance. I remember even thinking that "wow" this hive still has lots of bees to have swarmed twice already. So many bees in fact that I switched out some frames from the lower box with empty frames to give the queen more room to lay. Then I even added a second super expecting them to go nuts. I didn't see any queen cells.
I had to go out of town for four days. I just went back in and found no brood, lots of uncapped honey and a tremendous amount of pollen in the lower box. The second box has some honey but no brood either. I did see the queen but sensed that there were less bees than in the last inspection. They were also more protective this time.
Has the queen failed? Did they swarm on me for a third time and left me with an unmated queen who has yet to lay?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Barndt
