[nhoyt]

I installed a package of bee on the 18th of april, I let them do there thing and checked every weekend to see and learn, i am a newbee. So RL things kinda got busy and i was unable to go to the beeyard (it is about 40mins away from where i live), i havent been to the yrd in about a month. I wasnt all that worried about swarming because it is a new package and from what i read/was told it is very abnormal for a new package to swarm. Well i checked today and i saw not as many bees as i would have thought i would see, a month ago i saw about 25% more bees going in and out of the hive. I checked the frames and the first frame i checked i saw uncapped brood, i could see on the other frames capped honey. I know that if i see uncapped brood it was layed no more then 3 days ago but i was unable to find the queen, i couldnt check all frames they where in a bit of a mood to say the least (it did rain the night before). I also found 4 queen cells one open, one cracked and 2 untouched. i gave a teaspoon of honey to my cousin because he is letting me place my bees in his yrd so i told him he can have the first honey, he was tickled pink with the small spoonful i gave him. now to the heart of the question. The queen cells could they be something i need to worry IE a inc swarm or something a little less scary they are just replacing the queen, which from what i see she is doing a great job on the frame i took a small amount of honey from i saw worker brood meaning not drone brood. they also made a mess of some combs i had to take a fair amount of bur comb off i tasted it, no taste at all lol. all i want to know is r they going to swarm or did they need more room.

Also as a side note i check for mites and found none.

 

[Vance G]

Sounds like you failed to keep the bees happy. Hopefully they will raise a new queen successfully and have a chance to rebuild. They need another deep to winter reliably in your latitude. I would sure give them one.

 

[nhoyt]

I placed a new deep on and 10 frames, i am going to ask for help from some local BK to help me find the queen i can find her, i do not know if they made a new one or what. a week ago i saw uncapped brood today i saw some capped brood. i am not sure if she goes on a laying cycle or what but i am getting nervous

 

[zhiv9]

If there are capped qc's and a reduced population, it sounds like they swarmed. I would leave them alone for at least 2 or better 3 weeks and check for eggs and open brood then. There really isn't any point in trying to find the queen at this point. She probably isn't there and if any of the cells have emerged you will likely have a virgin queen that is harder to spot. It's best to leave then alone until she is mated and laying.

 

[Michael Bush]

>from what i read/was told it is very abnormal for a new package to swarm.

If you feed a new package constantly I would call it quite normal for them to swarm... if you let them run out of room, they will also swarm...

 

[Rob64]

If you feed a new package constantly I would call it quite normal for them to swarm...

Michael
I'm new to this. I have been feeding sugar water to my new packages to help (I thought) them build comb. I just added my first super to both my hives. Should I quit the syrup now?

 

[Michael Bush]

If there is a nectar flow I would stop feeding them. If the flow stops I would assess their condition and I might feed them. If you feed with supers on you will end up with supers full of sugar syrup...