TonyPayne
New Bee
I collected a swarm (a cast from my own hive?) and put them in a 14x12 nucleus with 4 x BS super and 2 x 14x12 frames, this happened about two weeks and two days ago. I did this because I had just used up all my 14x12s on the first swarm.
I now have another standard National hive built and thought I'd look and see what was going on, with the intention of swapping them over if all was well.
The problems I have are that firstly I couldn't see any evidence of a queen in the form of Brood, eggs or indeed her ladyship. The bees have made loads of comb, including filling out the space below the supers and it is possible the queen was in some of the comb that broke off when i pulled the frames out. I have put it all back together and presume the bees will rebuild what I have damaged. But what are the next steps for me? have I looked too early and maybe the queen hasn't started laying yet? I don't want to do any more until I get some advice.
In my beginners head I would leave it for another week to see if the queen starts laying. If there is still no evidence that she is and I can't see here I would then move the frames to the new hive anyway, pull all the bits out in the bottom of the nucleus hive to see if I can find her, then possibly put in a frame of brood from my healthy hive (This houses the original queen that swarmed three weeks ago). One other thing to note is that I have already moved one frame to a third hive as a test to see if that is queen less as there was no sign of a queen in that one either (This is the have that I had all along).
I hope this makes sense but to recap: Original hive is possibly queen less after a swarm and a cast and currently houses a frame of brood from Hive 2. Hive two is a new hive with the first swarm and the original queen laying eggs nicely but now down by one frame as I have moved one to the original hive. Nucleus possibly queenless and probably a cast swarm from the original hive.
Many lessons already learnt, but how to get out of the current state?
I now have another standard National hive built and thought I'd look and see what was going on, with the intention of swapping them over if all was well.
The problems I have are that firstly I couldn't see any evidence of a queen in the form of Brood, eggs or indeed her ladyship. The bees have made loads of comb, including filling out the space below the supers and it is possible the queen was in some of the comb that broke off when i pulled the frames out. I have put it all back together and presume the bees will rebuild what I have damaged. But what are the next steps for me? have I looked too early and maybe the queen hasn't started laying yet? I don't want to do any more until I get some advice.
In my beginners head I would leave it for another week to see if the queen starts laying. If there is still no evidence that she is and I can't see here I would then move the frames to the new hive anyway, pull all the bits out in the bottom of the nucleus hive to see if I can find her, then possibly put in a frame of brood from my healthy hive (This houses the original queen that swarmed three weeks ago). One other thing to note is that I have already moved one frame to a third hive as a test to see if that is queen less as there was no sign of a queen in that one either (This is the have that I had all along).
I hope this makes sense but to recap: Original hive is possibly queen less after a swarm and a cast and currently houses a frame of brood from Hive 2. Hive two is a new hive with the first swarm and the original queen laying eggs nicely but now down by one frame as I have moved one to the original hive. Nucleus possibly queenless and probably a cast swarm from the original hive.
Many lessons already learnt, but how to get out of the current state?
