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I'm curious as well about the Queen cells. As they likely came from unfertilised eggs, what will hatch? Just a big well fed drone?

Fab. Many thanks.

The shaking out method is not something I'd come across before. So just to ensure I understand it correctly - I just empty the hive by shaking the bees off in front of the stronger colony? Will the bees in the stronger colony let them in? Seems too easy! There about 4 frames covered in the...

I wondered that due to the drone cells. If I combine them with a stronger colony, is there a risk of the laying workers continuing to lay, or will the presence of a queen stop them? Anything else to consider? Thanks.

This is the frame from the middle of the brood with most of the bees shaken off.

I have a split that I made in early July. The queen was slow to start laying and I've only seen a small number of brood. I've not actually seen the queen, but the small numbers of eggs and brood indicate she's there somewhere. Last week the bees were much more defensive and this week I have...

Going to check it today. I've left the super on the original colony so they had stores through the June gap (which happens in July here in NI). I never thought of them focusing on filling the super rather than expanding the brood box. That's why I'm in the beginner section! I'm assuming if not...

I added a test frame at the weekend and I'm delighted to say when I had a quick look at that one frame, it's just been capped. The frame beside had new larvae. So I have a mated queen. Hooray!

The bees seemed the same in temperament to the queenright hive. They have good stores and look fine. While queens are available for another couple of months, does the colony not run out of nurse bees with no new brood emerging? Is there a rule of thumb for when its too late to add a queen...

I made a split 28 days ago after finding swarm cells. The virgin queen hatched, but is now nowhere to be seen. There are no signs of eggs or brood. How long do I have to source and introduce a queen, or is it already too late? My other hive only has 5 frames being used for brood at the moment...

Checking today (21 days since the split). No sign of any brood yet. I didn't see a queen, but they have similar temperament to the queenright colony they were created from. How long would you wait to see the queen / brood before considering adding a queen? I assume with no new bees, there is a...

I checked today and there was one queen cup. The queen is there and she's laid extensively on the available cells (almost to the edges of the frames with little/no space for stores). Though they're not pulling out any new frames, they have converted the frontmost frame from stores to brood. I've...

They were the edges, so more store than brood. I didn't have a second nuc box.

They produced 3 good queen cells on 1st July. When I did the artificial swarm on 1st July, they were left with 1 frame of stores and the remainder of foundation. 1 week later, they'd pulled out 5 frames of foundation 2 weeks later, they'd still only pulled out 5 frames with great coverage of...

The forecast is very poor the next few days, but if I get a window I'll certainly have a look. Yes, the queen was present. Lots of capped brood and larvae seen at all stages, so she is laying well.

How long should I wait? Presumably that determines if I see nothing, queen cups or queen cells? What is my best course of action in each case? Forgive the questions, I am after all a beginner looking to learn and I would be grateful if you could share your experience and wisdom so I can learn.

Perhaps, you might like to suggest what to do now?

Sorry, I didn't take any pics. I essentially did a Pagden split, but kept the original brood box (with fresh foundation). I wonder if maybe using that original box has meant the bees haven't been convinced they've swarmed yet.

Yes, I essentially did a Pagden split. I had a nuc prepared but in hindsight I would have used a new full brood box. Post split, we have: Original location - original brood box, 1 frame of stores, foundation, original queen, flying bees, super around 30-40% full. New location 5m away - nuc box...

My approach is how CAFRE/UBKA teaches us how to do an artificial swarm in Northern Ireland.