- Joined
- Feb 15, 2015
- Messages
- 3,639
- Reaction score
- 4,422
- Location
- Dorset
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- Five
The situation:
Split colony - single brood box with the flying bees from split, with three supers, two filled, one mostly empty.
Split was with one frame of eggs and larvae, the remaining frames foundation.
Brood box is very congested with bees, supers only lightly populated. Foundation is about 40% drawn out in the brood box.
One week after split there were 37 queen cells on the donated frame. I broke these down and introduced a mated queen.
After the introduction, there has been a lot of bees hanging around on the landing board, even in the rain.
Assuming the queen introduction is successful, what are the chances they will swarm with her after she’s laid eggs to make a new queen?
If that is likely, what action should I take? Would adding a second brood box to ease congestion help?
This is new territory for me, so will appreciate your advice. TIA
Split colony - single brood box with the flying bees from split, with three supers, two filled, one mostly empty.
Split was with one frame of eggs and larvae, the remaining frames foundation.
Brood box is very congested with bees, supers only lightly populated. Foundation is about 40% drawn out in the brood box.
One week after split there were 37 queen cells on the donated frame. I broke these down and introduced a mated queen.
After the introduction, there has been a lot of bees hanging around on the landing board, even in the rain.
Assuming the queen introduction is successful, what are the chances they will swarm with her after she’s laid eggs to make a new queen?
If that is likely, what action should I take? Would adding a second brood box to ease congestion help?
This is new territory for me, so will appreciate your advice. TIA