Single hive, second year, ten frame box with a super. Opened up on Sunday and found six capped cells hanging off the bottom bars of two brood frames. I saw a lot of bees but did not spot the queen and I did not see eggs, though I am not confident I would. Plenty of capped brood, some open larvae. Weather has been good and the box is heavy. What is my actual next move, and how urgent is it?
Capped cells on the bottom bars in June means swarm preparation, and capped means you are late rather than early. In practice the prime swarm usually leaves around the time the first cell is capped, so there is a real chance the old queen has already gone, which would explain not finding her. Do a proper inspection tomorrow looking for eggs specifically, holding the frame so sunlight falls into the cells over your shoulder. If there are eggs and the queen is present, do an artificial swarm now. If there are no eggs and there are capped cells, she has left and your job is to pick one good cell, destroy the rest, and leave them alone for three weeks.
No eggs anywhere I could see, and the bees were noticeably calm. So she has gone. Do I really destroy five cells?
Yes, or the first virgin out will lead a cast swarm and you lose half of what is left, then again. Pick the biggest, best-shaped cell on the frame with the most attending bees, mark the frame, cut the rest out cleanly. Then close up and do not open the hive for three weeks except to heft it.
Update at four weeks for anyone reading later: laying queen, tight brood pattern, and no more cells. The waiting was worse than the beekeeping.
Whatever you choose, put a frame of stores next to the brood nest. A colony rearing a queen in a June gap can go hungry fast if the flow pauses, and hungry colonies abandon cells.
@iron_filter_ike · last yr. · 2 replies
Three weeks of leaving them alone is the hard part and it is where most people ruin it. A virgin needs about a week to mature, a few days of decent weather to mate, and then a few days to start laying. Every inspection in that window risks her getting balled or lost on a mating flight because you opened the box at the wrong hour. Mark the date on your calendar and do not touch it.
Reply
Report
@chmod_confused · last yr.
I lost a queen exactly this way in my first year, inspecting on day 12 because I was anxious. Nothing looks wrong until you have no brood a month later.
Reply
Report