[jim the cook]

I had a very strong hive swarm on the the 21st. I was able to capture and place in a deep box with old comb and some honey/ pollen frames. It was my first swarm capture, and the box is looking good, the queen is already laying and overall the hive looks like it will take. Yesterday (3/29), I came home to two more large swarms from what I think was the original hive, although it still has a nice population. I again was able to capture both groups of bees (one three times the size of the other, both within 10 yards of each other). I jumped into my hive (with my daughter's assistance) to evaluate.
Original hive no laying queen but MANY queen cells. We decided to place at least one of these frames into each of the captured swarm boxes.. Help me all......, good move or is there something else I should be looking for?

Jim the cook.

 

[burns375]

The original swarm was probably the old queen. The new ones could be mating flights from hatched queen cells. Are you sure all the queen cells are viable, no holes in the side. Did you find a queen in either new swarm. Lets us know what happens tommorow.

Depending on your goals you could split out all of the queen cells into nucs. Just make sure you leave a few in the original hive too.

 

[jim the cook]

We did leave numerous queen cells in the original hive. I'll be checking on the boxes in the next couple of days, as the weather is now beginning to actually turn spring like! We didn't check for holes in the sides of the cells, just made sure they were still capped. If we need to we can always re-combine the two swarms into one hive and requeen...

thanks for the heads up, I'll not forget to look for Puncture holes in the side of queen cells now, as an indication of a hatched queen removing all of her competition!

 

[NewJoe]

most likely the two second swarms were virgin queen swarms....I would just hive them and wait for all of the hives to work it out!

Nature just gave you a great increase!

 

[jim the cook]

I have them in boxes with a combination of old comb, and new foundation, plus we pulled one frame of brood for each from our "alpha" hive, and place in each box. So I'm waiting to see what happens.

Worse case, if there is not a laying queen in the next few weeks, I'll combine and re-queen.

 

[NewJoe]

I have them in boxes with a combination of old comb, and new foundation, plus we pulled one frame of brood for each from our "alpha" hive, and place in each box. So I'm waiting to see what happens.

Worse case, if there is not a laying queen in the next few weeks, I'll combine and re-queen.

Good Plan!