Advice please!

[swhitehurst]

About a month ago I noticed there was no queen in the hive ( young queen in nuc I'd bought this year) but plenty of bees and several queen cells and plenty of space in the broood box. I reduced the queen cells to two , however they swarmed a few days later.
I collected the swarm, to a nuc box and fed them sugar.
The original hive had 4 full frames of bees but no larvea or eggs that i could see , so after a week I added a frame of young larvae from another hive... A week later theyd cleaned that frame and still no larvae.
I have now bought a queen but today I see no larvea other than three queen cells which have larvea.
Should I put t he queen into the old hive ,after removing any queen cells OR should i put the queen in the swarm , which just has a lot of honey and some pollen in four frames of bees?
Wondering what is going on
Many thanks Steve

 

[Murox]

I think perhaps you have been too impatient.
You have a hive that swarmed, and you added a test frame just a month/ five weeks after the swarm? but you cant see a queen or eggs yet ? but you have charged queen cells in that hive ?
You have the swarm in a nuc, presumably with a queen ?
You have a new queen "in your hand".
In my locale I would go through the hive and take out all queen cells and put the new queen in ( with cage). Don't know where you are so maybe you have enough drones and good weather left to allow those charged cells to develop and make up a couple of nucs to overwinter?

 

[The Poot]

If they swarmed three weeks ago after you left two queen cells in the hive, you should / could have a queen in the swarm and a queen in the hive and not need the bought in queen.
Having said that if your hive now has three charged queen cells, it all seems a little confusing, as previously you report no larvae present.
I’ll leave others more experienced than me to give their opinions on this.

 

[swhitehurst]

I think perhaps you have been too impatient.
You have a hive that swarmed, and you added a test frame just a month/ five weeks after the swarm? but you cant see a queen or eggs yet ? but you have charged queen cells in that hive ?
You have the swarm in a nuc, presumably with a queen ?
You have a new queen "in your hand".
In my locale I would go through the hive and take out all queen cells and put the new queen in ( with cage). Don't know where you are so maybe you have enough drones and good weather left to allow those charged cells to develop and make up a couple of nucs to overwinter?

Hi ...you may well be right I was worried when I had no larvae in the hive which had swarmed. Im not sure if I should let the queen cells come on and intruduce the queen to the swarm..... the swarm definately has nothing but honey capped and uncapped (will they accept a queen).

 

[swhitehurst]

If they swarmed three weeks ago after you left two queen cells in the hive, you should / could have a queen in the swarm and a queen in the hive and not need the bought in queen.
Having said that if your hive now has three charged queen cells, it all seems a little confusing, as previously you report no larvae present.
I’ll leave others more experienced than me to give their opinions on this.

Thanks for the reply... Im confused as both myself and a friend could see no larvae... just wondering if I missed some eggs. Cant decide if I should add the queen to the swarm which definately has nothing but honey capped and uncapped.....

 

[Murox]

Hi ...you may well be right I was worried when I had no larvae in the hive which had swarmed. Im not sure if I should let the queen cells come on and intruduce the queen to the swarm..... the swarm definately has nothing but honey capped and uncapped (will they accept a queen).

You really need to be certain as to whether or not you have a queen(virgin) in either hive or nuc, otherwise you will simply be sending your new queen to her death.

 

[hemo]

About a month ago I noticed there was no queen in the hive ( young queen in nuc I'd bought this year) but plenty of bees and several queen cells and plenty of space in the broood box. I reduced the queen cells to two , however they swarmed a few days later.
I collected the swarm, to a nuc box and fed them sugar.
The original hive had 4 full frames of bees but no larvea or eggs that i could see , so after a week I added a frame of young larvae from another hive... A week later theyd cleaned that frame and still no larvae.
I have now bought a queen but today I see no larvea other than three queen cells which have larvea.
Should I put t he queen into the old hive ,after removing any queen cells OR should i put the queen in the swarm , which just has a lot of honey and some pollen in four frames of bees?
Wondering what is going on
Many thanks Steve

The nuc that swarmed likely did so with the old Queen or with one of the two VQ's from the two cells left. If the cells were sealed and close to emerging then then the swarm and the nuc will be queen right and as expected from a new beekeeper with little knowledge or a very good mentor to help will have panicked.

Placing a purchased queen in to a colony without knowing the queen status within will mean a waste of money as the new queen will be killed.
One has to be sure and with new VQ's wait possibly up to 4 weeks or so to see signs of new brood laying.

Tbh you need help rather then flailing about guessing, a steady hand and someone who knows what they are seeing in front of them. If you are a member of a LBKA ask for some help or ask for some on here, your location may help and/with an offer to look for you and try and set you straight.
Early days can be daunting without knowledge so don't be afraid to ask for someone to look at your bees with you. We were all there once at a similar point.

 

[madasafish]

If we knew your location, we could point to where you might get help.