If they are as crowded as it sounds I would give them another box with drawn comb or foundation. They need the space and this should give you some time to get your ducks in a row for you split, or splits if that great queen starts to lay in the new box. Even if she does not it gives them room to start storing the nectar coming in they will be competing with her for empty cells in a packed brood chamber with nowhere else to put the sweet stuff.
Strong hive...what to do?
Been paying lots of attention to my hive lately. They have started bringing in TONS of pollen and even some nectar(some spilled out today as i was inspecting) Today was a warm day, so i decided to try out the new smoker, and go take a gander. Man, there were 18-20 frames of bees packed out between the deep and the medium. Out of the total 20 frames, 14 of them had Larvae in different stages. They were not this strong last year, but they are built up heavily. I went through the entire hive today, having to shake some bees off frames so i could see them. I didn't see any swarm cells, and i did see her Heiness laying in nice tight patterns and literally every open cell....LOL
My question is this, they are strong, and I am sure they will want to swarm here soon. Noone is selling queens due to the weather or I'd order one and split them. What can i do at this point other than just watch and hope they don't swarm. Havent seen any drones......ideas appreciated..
My question is this, they are strong, and I am sure they will want to swarm here soon. Noone is selling queens due to the weather or I'd order one and split them. What can i do at this point other than just watch and hope they don't swarm. Havent seen any drones......ideas appreciated..
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Mine are in a similar situation. Well a couple are. I would split them now if I could fine some queens. Or even consider a walk away split. But there are not enough drones yet to take that chance. Give them some room. May look into Walt Wrights checker boarding technique.
Oh,How I wished I had your problems. Mine are still in the deep freeze, it was 1 above zero this morning.
ditto.Oh,How I wished I had your problems. Mine are still in the deep freeze, it was 1 above zero this morning.
If you can't split because of no queens or lack of drones then you need to give them more space. Add an extra hive body. It can't hurt and will make the split easier when there are drones or you can order a queen.
Oh how I wish it I could do a split now.
You might want to open up the brood nest, just take out a frame of capped brood and give one of foundation, then give thr brood to a weaker hive.
I wished i could find a 3 Ib package of bees W/Queen for this month!.
I wished i could find a 3 Ib package of bees W/Queen for this month!.
I'm 30 miles west and believe me they wouldn't live until the middle of April or later. Nights are still too cold. I won't reverse for another 2-3 weeks.:no:
I would do about four walk away splits.Be sure to split the queen to a new hive and move to a new location.We keep nuc boxes on hand all the time.
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