# going to swarm?



## sallygardens (Mar 8, 2007)

Hello

Newbeek here, did my first proper hive inspection today and would really appreciate thoughts. This is the picture! ....

One National Hive.
Couldn't find the queen, she is allegedly last years queen, clipped and marked.
(counting 1 to 10 from rear). Frames 1, 9 and 10 lots of honey, 1/3 of which capped.
Frames 3 to 8 lots of capped brood, a few large uncapped grubs in cells.
Frame 5 almost all brood cells uncapped/empty.
Could not see/identify any eggs in any open cells (that could be due to me being a total novice of course!)
Lots of bees working all over the brood 1 to 10 frames.
Super on 10 days now, but only about 5 bees in the middle of it, all new foundation, none drawn, therefore no honey. Should I remove it and feed?
AND I found 10 queen cells, long and droopy, on the bottom edges, spread over frames 3 to 8.
None were hatched, all were closed, all had grubs, I rubbed them all off except for one which was in the middle of frame 7.

Now ... what to do?
Do the QC mean they are going to swarm, or they are queenless?
I can't artificially swarm them, if I can't find the queen, or can I?

I could add an extra brood body, giving more laying space.
And/or I could take out the frame with the QC on it and put it in a new hive with some young nurse bees? Then if she hatches, thats a new nuk. If theres no sign of a Q in the original hive, then I could reunite them, and they'd have a new queen. If there is evidence of Q in original hive, I have 2 hives with 2 queens.

Any advice very much appreciated. 
All the best.


----------



## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

I wouldn't feed, it sounds like they have plenty.

If there aren't any eggs or very young uncapped brood, they've either swarmed already, or the queen died and they are replacing her.

I would leave them alone for a week or two and hope that you left them a viable cell! Do you have other hives?


----------



## sallygardens (Mar 8, 2007)

Nope, this is my one and only hive, only got it 2 weeks ago, so I'm a total novice, armed with a book and a helpful forum!

If they had swarmed, would there be noticeably less bees in the hive? It still seems bursting with bees on all the frames.

The queen was/is clipped. Wouldn't the swarm return to the hive when they noticed the queen wasn't with them, and wait for one of the queen cells to hatch and leave with her? If that were the case maybe the queen is no more, but all the flying bees are there, for the time being. What do you reckon?


----------



## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

>>I rubbed them all off except for one which was in the middle of frame 7.<<

#1..Learn to ask before acting. With a queen clipped, she may well have left the hive and died, trying to swarm.

#2..With only one viable queen cell left, hope and pray she makes a successful mating flight and starts laying. If not, order a new queen. You will know with in 25 days. Mark your calender.

#3..Never destroy queen cells unless you have or intend to have a laying queen to introduce.

It sounds like the old queen left. If she died trying to swarm, the bees likely returned to the hive. Now they will possibly swarm with a virgin queen and leave your hive queenless.


----------



## sallygardens (Mar 8, 2007)

Hmmm. Live n learn!  Was going from others advice ... see Queen cells, destroy them. So many opinions, so much to learn! I did ring and ask another beekeeper, she told me I had to make my own decisions, only way to learn .. so here I am, learning!!!  

Is there anything I could do to save the day, if there is no queen, its possible I just didn't see her, or recognise eggs, being a novice. I can't order a new queen, there isn't such a service in Ireland, and they don't post them over from the UK.

What about do an artificial swarm but instead of putting the non existent queen into the new brood body on her frame of brood on the original site, put the comb with the sealed queen sell into it instead ... hopefully to hatch/fly/mate over the next week.
The old brood body would be on a new site, as per usual artificial swarm method, with all the old brood ... carry on with this hive as per normal method. Then if there is a queen in it I should spot that later on, and if there isn't, then reunite it with the new brood body on the old site.
Or would my idea be pants and/or cause the possibly queenless hive to lose the plot?!


----------



## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

I would leave everything as is for 25 days. If you don't have eggs at that time, I would try to purchase a frame of brood containing eggs from a neighborhood beekeeper and let them build more queen cells.


----------



## sallygardens (Mar 8, 2007)

Thanks for all the advice.

What do you think I _should_ have done when I opened the hive and saw 10 queen cells, capped, and no sign of the queen?


----------



## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

I would have made the split then, with about half the q-cells. Then combined later if I didn't want more than one hive.

Or I would have left them and let them swarm. Swarming isn't always a bad thing.
That's another "beek's choice" thing.


----------



## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

You don't have to see eggs, look for smaller larvae. But I wouldn't open it for at least one week, probably two.


----------

