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Hi,
I'm beekeeping for the first time in northern Maine. I started with two hives on May 15th.
My conundrum:
I cannot find the queen in one of my hives, but the contents and behavior mimic the hive with a queen. Both hives seem a little empty in the bottom deep. (Each hive has two deeps and one super.) I looked for a queen with my daughter (college age) on August 19th, and we both could not find the queen. I checked again on August 29th with my husband, and we both couldn't find her. The hive is thriving despite no queen. I see larvae, drone cells, capped cells. The bees are active and coming to the hive with pollen on their hind legs. I'm still feeding both hives a 1:1 syrup mix because the supers of both hives are empty. Bees are crawling on the frames, but for six weeks, so comb has been built.
Today, August 31, I noticed a massive swarm of bees 30-35' up in a pine tree. It looks like a beard of bees (also kind of hard to see being so high up.) Could this swarm be wild and robbing from both hives? It would help explain the bottom deep of both hives.
Also, I'm not sure if my hive replaced and made a new queen. I just don't see a large bee with a queen silhouette. Could the former queen be in this swarm? Do I try to combine? (Would the newspaper method work with a swarm? Also I don’t have an extra deep but I have several empty supers?) Do I look for a queen in the swarm and assume my hive has made a new queen based on activity, and pick a queen to save?
I reached out to the Maine Swarm Tasks Force but haven't heard back. (We are located in the woods of Maine...) Is it a good idea to cut the branch of the swarm and try to do this ourselves? Tips? Winter is coming and I don’t want them to relocated to our roof.
Best,
Jill
I'm beekeeping for the first time in northern Maine. I started with two hives on May 15th.
My conundrum:
I cannot find the queen in one of my hives, but the contents and behavior mimic the hive with a queen. Both hives seem a little empty in the bottom deep. (Each hive has two deeps and one super.) I looked for a queen with my daughter (college age) on August 19th, and we both could not find the queen. I checked again on August 29th with my husband, and we both couldn't find her. The hive is thriving despite no queen. I see larvae, drone cells, capped cells. The bees are active and coming to the hive with pollen on their hind legs. I'm still feeding both hives a 1:1 syrup mix because the supers of both hives are empty. Bees are crawling on the frames, but for six weeks, so comb has been built.
Today, August 31, I noticed a massive swarm of bees 30-35' up in a pine tree. It looks like a beard of bees (also kind of hard to see being so high up.) Could this swarm be wild and robbing from both hives? It would help explain the bottom deep of both hives.
Also, I'm not sure if my hive replaced and made a new queen. I just don't see a large bee with a queen silhouette. Could the former queen be in this swarm? Do I try to combine? (Would the newspaper method work with a swarm? Also I don’t have an extra deep but I have several empty supers?) Do I look for a queen in the swarm and assume my hive has made a new queen based on activity, and pick a queen to save?
I reached out to the Maine Swarm Tasks Force but haven't heard back. (We are located in the woods of Maine...) Is it a good idea to cut the branch of the swarm and try to do this ourselves? Tips? Winter is coming and I don’t want them to relocated to our roof.
Best,
Jill