Can't get a queen

[sharonh]

No, but it has swarmed - same diference


I meant one QC not hive! to temporarily deplete hive of flying bees. move it three feet away leaving a box/hive/ whatever in the original spot and go and have a cup of tea (Empirical measure that, most problems in the world could have been resolved if people just took a while, had a cup of tea and then revisited the problem) or maybe two - and a biscuit if you're that way inclined.
By the time you return to the hive, most of the fliers should be in the box wondering where all the furniture has gone - you will then have a lot less bees to wade through to find the QC's.When you've finished put the hive back in the original position and the 'new' box three feet away and they'll soon sort themselves out.

Ok that shouldn't be too hard to do. Thanks for that.
Yes it swarmed. Around my hive stand, I have windbreak fabric stapled. The original queen climbed up this and under the landing board as she was clipped. A ball of bees around her, but the majority ended up under the hive behind the fabric so I couldn't get at them to drop them with the others into the cardboard box. I left the box over turned with a stone under one corner on the ground. Thought the rest of the bees would end up finding her . That evening I went back, the queen and adhering bees were in a small cluster in the box. The bees under the hive didn't join them. Put her and bees with her into a poly nuc box. Bees eventually came away from under the floor and returned into the hive. So the bulk of the colony are still in that hive, so that's why I suggested maybe doing a split.
But if I can get through all the frames without so many bees, it may be an option.
Thanks again
Regards
Sharon


Love Beekeeping <3

 

[oliver90owner]

Sharon,

Read. 6 days after the last eggs laid. Tomorrow might be that but from swarming that will be 5 days. Better the following day to be certain, although fairly safe tomorrow. Yesterday would not necessarily have been long enough. With only the single cell in the hive they are more likely to add another couple if possible. Just like after they swarmed - if you had left several open cells and marked the position of the one you wished to keep, they would have been less likely to draw more than they had at that point.

See what I mean? If you destroy all but one while they can 'take out some insurance' (multiple cells) they will be more likely to try. Hence six (or even seven) days after the capped cells were removed is most certain. As I replied to Ely, the old queen, in the case of an artificial swarm needs checking for cells after about three days as the bees could have converted a three day old larva to queen cell and they could be gone in four or five days. Not many notice the different needs and the usual 'check three days later' advice is assumed gor both boxes. And it is wrong for the parent colony. Most times it may well be good enough (and particularly for those who leave two cells and move the colony just before emergence), but not this season it seems.

Time lines show this clearly. I keep mentioning them, but when I started I did that and also had a brainstorming session with a clean sheet of paper whenever a possible problem arose. Then I crossed off the obviously impossible ones and investigated the very few seemingly plausible alternatives with a projected time line. It soon sorts out the preferred route and avoids dead ends in the future.

Your last post now tells me another piece of very useful information. They would be almost certain to cast if they could! They not only have probably more than half the swarmed bees but also all the emerged brood since then! If your depleted swarm is adjacent to the parent colony, I would have that in a full box and be moving the parent colony to transfer all flying bees (along with the supers soon after) to the swarmed hive. Solving more than one problem without too much effort. Clearly moving supers over now is a bit more of a logistical problem than when making an A/S, but it would keep your foraging force and the honey crop together.

I can now envisage why they may have turned shirty since the swarming as they have so many extra flying bees and possibly still in swarming mode.

 

[Finno]

Hiberno English http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/icons/icon7.gif

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

when I started I did that and also had a brainstorming session with a clean sheet of paper whenever a possible problem arose. Then I crossed off the obviously impossible ones and investigated the very few seemingly plausible alternatives with a projected time line. It soon sorts out the preferred route and avoids dead ends in the future.

Tell me RAB. Have ever suffered constipation? if so, did you work it out with a pencil?

 

[oliver90owner]

Yes, JBM, the last time you posted that one (I think) it was 'have you heard of the constipated mathematician who worked it out with a pencil?

But the old ones (those you remember) were usually the better ones!

Just seems you don't remember too many in your old age?

I have noted that your by-word for this morning seems to have been 'time-line'. Catching on that is is a super tool for beginners, at long last?

RAB

Edit: Here you are. Post #32 of this thread.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=22627

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes, JBM, the last time you posted that one Just seems you don't remember too many in your old age?

]

Well, in the spirit of this forum, it's always worth regurgitating some data to save wearing out the search button

As for timelines I suppose the first good night's sleep for a month has made me a bit sharper this morning! (or less psychic!) that and fielding loads of beginners questions at home about 'why have my bees swarmed!?'

 

[oliver90owner]

why have my bees swarmed!?'

So you had to give them a lesson on 'the birds and the bees'?

 

[Teemore]

Just read the last two posts while sitting on the earliest train home from work in over a year...... The" why have mybeesswarmed?" Question now sends a shiver down my back. So many people I have met this year seem to think that if they gather up and hive a swarm from their colony, the parent colony will not swarm again. My tongue is getting rather tender from biting it!!!