AS'd in May, now building queen cells again!

[beekake]

I have a colony that I AS'd in May on the first appearance of queen cells. The original colony were in a standard deep national box, and when I AS'd them I put the queen and her frame of brood into a 14 x 12 box full of fresh foundation. They were a bit slow to draw the comb out and I was worried for a while that they queen would be getting a bit frustrated at lack of laying space, but on inspection today after leaving them to it for a couple of weeks, they had drawn 6 of the new frames, and there was plenty of BIAS and a full frame of eggs. THere was also plenty of laying space in another 14 x 12 frame. So imagine my surprise when I came across four well developed queen cells at the bottom of one of the new frames. They were all charged and there were also some queen cups on the go. I took them all down as an emergency measure (no time to deal with it properly), and added a super to keep them busy.

I'm reluctant to AS the colony again if I can help it- so what advice can anyone give me for what to look out for and how to deal with any more swarm preparations. I'm going back to have another look this weekend.

 

[Finman]

I'm reluctant to AS the colony again if I can help it-.

It helps , and it s not rare that hive feels capable again to swarm.
Another possibililty is Beatles style: Let It Be.

Nurse them whole year and then let them go.

 

[richardbees]

beekake
You did the right thing.....absolutely no point in thinking of another AS.
They may have supercedure in mind but ime the Q cells for that are usually more centrally placed on the frame. I suggest you keep removing charged Q cells as long as you see eggs and comb expanding when you inspect.

 

[VEG]

Just make sure you dont miss any Q cells if doing away with them.

 

[Midland Beek]

Why do you assume these queen cells are swarming impulse? Or for that matter, do you even realize that there exist other reasons why a colony would want a new queen? What beekeeping book have you been using?

 

[Polyanwood]

Some bees are a lot more swarmy than others. If it is swarming and not superseding, then I would buy a new queen ASAP.

 

[For want of a better word]

Some bees are a lot more swarmy than others. If it is swarming and not superseding, then I would buy a new queen ASAP.

Probably an imported " b*ckf*rst" mix with a lot of Carniolian in it.....
reaction to a bad previous summer, long winter and not so good spring,mand now a good time for forage...bees feel they need to repopulate to make up for species losses.
Animals react to their environment.

 

[beeno]

Hi guys,
Am I missing a trick here? Isn't the whole point of this exercise to get rid off the old queen and re-unite?

 

[beekake]

Good point Beeno. The new queen from the split is now mated and laying, but I am not convinced she is up to much...not very prolific and her laying pattern is a bit patchy. I'm giving her another couple of weeks to prove herself before I risk replacing my original (still very prolific) queen and reuniting. But it does raise another question...how long in general do you wait after your new queen (from a split) is mated before reuniting? As soon as she starts laying?

I just checked other forum threads to see if there was a thread on this, but no such luck.

 

[oliver90owner]

Isn't the whole point of this exercise to get rid off the old queen

Err, no. It might depend on....

 

[SimonB]

how long in general do you wait after your new queen (from a split) is mated before reuniting? As soon as she starts laying?

My understanding is that at least until a good proportion of brood is capped and you can tell if she has mated ie is the vast majority of the brood workers.

I was in the same position as you, AS built QCs, so I reunited once new queen was laying. It was a risk, but I had two other colonies that I could use to salvage the situation if necessary.

Reuniting two 14x12s seems to have caused the top box to consider themselves Q- and built and capped QCs in less than 7 days. Also had 3 QCs in the bottom box, but they were possibly supercedure, the laying pattern is unusual with two distinct brood areas and not very large. Knocked them all back and will check again at the weekend.

 

[oliver90owner]

My understanding is that at least until a good proportion of brood is capped

The longer the better is my view. Two laying queens will/should lay more than a single queen and I would like to assess the docility of her offspring and other traits (such as tearing around/sitting quietly on the frames while inspecting).

But all to their own. Good job we are not all the same...

 

[Ely]

Wouldn't you be missing any nectar flows the longer you leave it?

 

[Insy]

Beekake don't worry my bees are exactly the same, i did 2 splits of one of my hives and i still get swarm cells.

But on the plus side its only 1-2 on inspection now instead of 15+ I'm just learning to live with it.

 

[richardbees]

Beekake

Don't bother about uniting yet.....just keep checking for Q cells and make sure your hive with the original Q doesn't swarm and goes on to give you a honey crop.

The other hive will have a decreasing population of bees until the new Q's progeny hatch.....