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Hello group. This is my second year beekeeping and things were great up until two weeks ago. My experience in the first year was great - both hive grew two brood chambers and full two supers each - resulting in 85lb of raw honey. Real easy......right 
This year, everything was going great until I found HIVE1 swarming. I tried to catch them but the clustered on the tallest tree in the area and did not like the two swarm boxes I had up. This was may 29. I checked them out and no eggs yet - I still have some time before the queen is fertilized and laying right?
HIVE2 - after the HIVE1 swarm, I perform a routine inspection of this hive (HIVE2) and found no eggs and no brood. I inspect all middle frames of the deeps and do not see any queen. I don't want to waste time so I grab a mated queen and insert the queencage in to hive to acclimate to the hive. After 3 days I check on check on her and the worker bees do not seem to have any ill feelings - not stinging or clinging to the cage. So I release her. The next morning, I find her killed outside of the hive. I then perform another inspection of the hive, and do not see any eggs or sign of a queen. Attempt two, I go through the same steps and today is day three where i just uncorked her. I looked very carefully at the bees on the cage and honestly cannot tell if they are accepting her or not. I still have a few days while the candy plug is dissolving. Does it normally take more than 3 days to a hive to accept a caged queen? Here is a video of how the bees are behaving before I release the cork - it will play - you don't need to download it.
https://ngsdata365-my.sharepoint.co...lJr22wCQa-4HEBcSTxFltonXUPWrZ6eSpeuQ?e=lYQrIR
Both hives have two deeps and a single super on plus the entrance fully open. Should I consider pulling the supers or consolidating the deeps?
Any chance of getting a honey crop if my queens start laying in the next week or two?
Appreciate any advice and insight.
-JT
This year, everything was going great until I found HIVE1 swarming. I tried to catch them but the clustered on the tallest tree in the area and did not like the two swarm boxes I had up. This was may 29. I checked them out and no eggs yet - I still have some time before the queen is fertilized and laying right?
HIVE2 - after the HIVE1 swarm, I perform a routine inspection of this hive (HIVE2) and found no eggs and no brood. I inspect all middle frames of the deeps and do not see any queen. I don't want to waste time so I grab a mated queen and insert the queencage in to hive to acclimate to the hive. After 3 days I check on check on her and the worker bees do not seem to have any ill feelings - not stinging or clinging to the cage. So I release her. The next morning, I find her killed outside of the hive. I then perform another inspection of the hive, and do not see any eggs or sign of a queen. Attempt two, I go through the same steps and today is day three where i just uncorked her. I looked very carefully at the bees on the cage and honestly cannot tell if they are accepting her or not. I still have a few days while the candy plug is dissolving. Does it normally take more than 3 days to a hive to accept a caged queen? Here is a video of how the bees are behaving before I release the cork - it will play - you don't need to download it.
https://ngsdata365-my.sharepoint.co...lJr22wCQa-4HEBcSTxFltonXUPWrZ6eSpeuQ?e=lYQrIR
Both hives have two deeps and a single super on plus the entrance fully open. Should I consider pulling the supers or consolidating the deeps?
Any chance of getting a honey crop if my queens start laying in the next week or two?
Appreciate any advice and insight.
-JT