markb2603
House Bee
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2022
- Messages
- 118
- Reaction score
- 52
- Location
- Donegal, Ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 4
Hi All,
Today was the 1st good day in the North West of Ireland in over 2 weeks and the bramble flow is in full swing. Due to the bad weather, it’s been 17 days since I last inspected. You know what’s coming next! Opened up the hive to inspect, found one capped queen cell and 2 queen cells with royal jelly in them. Didn’t spot the queen but saw loads of eggs and brood at all stages. Didn’t have a nuc handy so decided I would close up and come back tomorrow to do a split with the old queen who I assumed was still there and remove all the queen cells bar the capped one. Went back and took off my suit etc and decided to do a walk around the site to see if there were any swarms present. Would you believe it, 50 metres away, there they were in a tree. Long panicked story short, got the nuc ready asap and got the swarm into the nuc and they are all fanning outside it now and any stragglers are going in.
My main question is, can I move this nuc about 100 metres away from the hive tonight and set them up there or do I need to take them 3k away for a week then bring them back?
Second question is, the original hive had 2 supers on, all foundationless frames, they’ve drawn out the 1st super and haven’t really started in any big way on the second super. Why would they have swarmed? They had plenty of space, just a natural urge?
Last question relates to the old saying, a swarm in July, etc… would this be an ideal opportunity to keep this nuc in reserve as an overwintered nuc? I’d rather not combine at a later stage if I can help it as I’d rather have the spare.
As always, thanks for the help!
Today was the 1st good day in the North West of Ireland in over 2 weeks and the bramble flow is in full swing. Due to the bad weather, it’s been 17 days since I last inspected. You know what’s coming next! Opened up the hive to inspect, found one capped queen cell and 2 queen cells with royal jelly in them. Didn’t spot the queen but saw loads of eggs and brood at all stages. Didn’t have a nuc handy so decided I would close up and come back tomorrow to do a split with the old queen who I assumed was still there and remove all the queen cells bar the capped one. Went back and took off my suit etc and decided to do a walk around the site to see if there were any swarms present. Would you believe it, 50 metres away, there they were in a tree. Long panicked story short, got the nuc ready asap and got the swarm into the nuc and they are all fanning outside it now and any stragglers are going in.
My main question is, can I move this nuc about 100 metres away from the hive tonight and set them up there or do I need to take them 3k away for a week then bring them back?
Second question is, the original hive had 2 supers on, all foundationless frames, they’ve drawn out the 1st super and haven’t really started in any big way on the second super. Why would they have swarmed? They had plenty of space, just a natural urge?
Last question relates to the old saying, a swarm in July, etc… would this be an ideal opportunity to keep this nuc in reserve as an overwintered nuc? I’d rather not combine at a later stage if I can help it as I’d rather have the spare.
As always, thanks for the help!