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After a perfectly executed cut down split yesterday (first time I'd attempted it) , my second attempt at a cutdown on another hive today was SNAFU. I could use some advice. I didn't find the queen. Instead I found a capped queen cell, at bottom of frame. From discussion on other threads, it sounds as if only one queen cell is more likely supercedure than swarm. I don't think the hive had swarmed , based upon the sheer volume of stored honey/nectar (A LOT), and large populations. But I also may have scuttled their plans to swarm today by my radical incursion. This hive has a bigger drone population than I've ever seen, which could indicate supercedure, but there's also a lot of nice, solid pattern capped worker brood, so this queen is still productive.
Was having a dilemma as to what to do. Didn't know if I should remove the capped cell or leave it. Don't know where the queen is. Clearly I am behind on hive inspections already for this hive, from which I have already taken one split. It's booming. Any thoughts? Should I just let things go for a week and then take a look at each box and see if there are any eggs/young brood to be found? Should I recombine (which will likely bring on swarm.) If the parent hive ends up swarming, then I guess I know where the queen was, and then recombining would make sense, would it not?
Thanks. Finding the queen is not as easy as all the descriptions of cut down splits make it seem.
Was having a dilemma as to what to do. Didn't know if I should remove the capped cell or leave it. Don't know where the queen is. Clearly I am behind on hive inspections already for this hive, from which I have already taken one split. It's booming. Any thoughts? Should I just let things go for a week and then take a look at each box and see if there are any eggs/young brood to be found? Should I recombine (which will likely bring on swarm.) If the parent hive ends up swarming, then I guess I know where the queen was, and then recombining would make sense, would it not?
Thanks. Finding the queen is not as easy as all the descriptions of cut down splits make it seem.