My bees swarmed a week ago. I'm guessing it was due to some overcrowding since I haven't been able to check on the hive lately.
After the swarm, I added an empty large super on top. I went into the hive yesterday and there hasn't been any building of new comb in the new super. They have also built a bunch of supersedure cells between the top super and bottom super which were pretty much destroyed when I opened the box and started inspecting frames. I'm guessing they were using that space because they had nowhere else to go. I'm afraid I may have ruined my chances of them re-queening themselves.
I am not seeing any eggs and only a tiny amount of larvae so I don't think they've re-queened as of yet. The two supers are full of nectar and honey.
Any advice as to what I should do? Should I purchase a new queen or hope that they have some more supersedure cells laying around?
What should I do going forward? They need some brooding room, but haven't started on the top super - is that because they will only focus on storing honey at this point?
Thanks much!
After the swarm, I added an empty large super on top. I went into the hive yesterday and there hasn't been any building of new comb in the new super. They have also built a bunch of supersedure cells between the top super and bottom super which were pretty much destroyed when I opened the box and started inspecting frames. I'm guessing they were using that space because they had nowhere else to go. I'm afraid I may have ruined my chances of them re-queening themselves.
I am not seeing any eggs and only a tiny amount of larvae so I don't think they've re-queened as of yet. The two supers are full of nectar and honey.
Any advice as to what I should do? Should I purchase a new queen or hope that they have some more supersedure cells laying around?
What should I do going forward? They need some brooding room, but haven't started on the top super - is that because they will only focus on storing honey at this point?
Thanks much!