2 weeks after swarm

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plumber rob

New Bee
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
33
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0
Location
west yorkshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2
Hello everyone great forum
i am new to keeping bees and so have limited knowledge.
Have read Ted Hoopers guide to bees and honey and i think i will read it again lol
Bought my first nuc in may and all was going well help from a friend on inspections for the first few but i must have missed a qc and had a swarm in july so started new colony in a new national hive (doing well and mild mannered) i have had also 2 small casts inexperience again:confused::confused::confused::confused: which i passed onto my friend who has more room to keep them .
now its been 2 weeks since my last cast and today during inspection i didnt locate the queen and saw no eggs brood etc .
should i leave upto 4 weeks before adding some eggs from my other hive or should i take action now

any advice greatly welcomed thanks in advance Rob.
 
You can put in a test frame ifyou have one handy, it won't do any damage.

You may have a virgin queen, she may have mated. Either way, if there is a queen, no harm done, they will just raise the brood, if Q- they will make one.
 
thanks silly bee would you think leaving till next weekend will do any harm?
 
Next weekend is middle of the month, so you are running out of time. If the weather is good, and they have something to feed on, you could be ok.


If you do put in a frame, make sure you have eggs, they make for a better queen, and don't forget, about 18 days before she is ready to mate, and the weather needs to be good.

So, sooner the better if you are looking down that route.
 
thanks for your help will do asap weather permitting
best regards rob

Have you worked out why you missed the QC ok i missed one this year and have a superecedure daughter ////queen with mother queen but missing three means you got to be more vigulant at your seven day inspections

i assume you over fed them and they blocked the brood with syrup and your hive made queen cells as no room+ lots of food= swarm condition

best of luck next year
 
Last edited:
inexperience and bad advice im afraid told to inspect about 2weeks at a time my own fault and then sharp learning curve need input lol

Have written everything in a note book from day 1 so hoping not to repeat my errors also very lucky i have understanding and very interested neighbours unlike some

probably correct in the overfeeding at the beginning following advise from chap i bought bees from no excuses though my own fault. small steps will get there in the end

thanks for all your comments
 
inexperience and bad advice im afraid told to inspect about 2weeks at a time my own fault and then sharp learning curve need input lol

Have written everything in a note book from day 1 so hoping not to repeat my errors also very lucky i have understanding and very interested neighbours unlike some

probably correct in the overfeeding at the beginning following advise from chap i bought bees from no excuses though my own fault. small steps will get there in the end

thanks for all your comments

Rob. I've had an almost identical year. Looking forward to next year. :willy_nilly:
 
Hello everyone great forum
i am new to keeping bees and so have limited knowledge.
Have read Ted Hoopers guide to bees and honey and i think i will read it again lol
Bought my first nuc in may and all was going well help from a friend on inspections for the first few but i must have missed a qc and had a swarm in july so started new colony in a new national hive (doing well and mild mannered) i have had also 2 small casts inexperience again:confused::confused::confused::confused: which i passed onto my friend who has more room to keep them .
now its been 2 weeks since my last cast and today during inspection i didnt locate the queen and saw no eggs brood etc .
should i leave upto 4 weeks before adding some eggs from my other hive or should i take action now

any advice greatly welcomed thanks in advance Rob.

Two weeks from your last cast swarm it may be two more weeks before the virgin queen in the hive starts to lay providing she gets mated successfully and survives during that time.

You can try a test frame if you want, but your biggest problem may be how depleted your hive is, primary swarm and two cast swarms and also min 5 weeks before new bees in the hive.
 
me too keith and i am alot more vigilant now dont want to upset the neighbours to much ( push my luck)



thanks for your reply
 
Hi tom
i fear you are right time is of the essence as other replies have said.
on inspecting sunday there were quite a few drones in the hive and also flying around ouside and also 10 full frames covering of bees lots flying and lots returning and leaving foraging not much pollen being brought in,:nature-smiley-016: and the bees are a bit tetchy understandable given the upheaval this colony has been through and as you pointed out these bees are getting on in their short lives so hope and prayers are called for me thinks


thanks for your comments regards rob

also hoping for more dry weather lol
 
update
I tried my best to put a test frame in but weather did not permit then on last saturday aft the sun came out so i did my inspection as normal plenty of stores but no brood or eggs and queen not seen so i put a test frame in and hoped for the best.

I did my weekly inspection today makes it 4 weeks since last cast, checked the test frame first strange i thought all brood now capped and no queen cells
and the bees were pretty calm so carried on inspecting lo and behold eggs and brood none capped yet but the were there plain to see and pearly white
and the icing on the cake her majesty put in an appearance:hurray:
Hope shes mated and not a drone layer time will tell.

will keep you updated
thanks all for your advice
best regards rob
 
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