brianmc
New Bee
Questions from a beginner...
I had 2 very small colonies coming out of winter... both of these started on swarming earlier than I hoped... not early... they were just still small colonies at the time.
The first - I attempted giving them an extra brood box and knocking back queen cells to delay the inevitable but it didn't work. I ended up losing the queen and split the two brood boxes. Both of these have raised new queens and only just started to lay in the last few days.
The second colony was also small and started on swarming about a week later. I took out the (2011) queen into a nuc and reduced the queen cells to the "best" one. I checked the hive yesterday to discover that the queen never emerged. Dead in the cell.
I should have kept a closer eye on the nuc in the meantime too... she's starting towards swarming again... some charged queen cups.
So... now... There's not much time left and I'd like some honey...
I think I'll merge the "dead in cell" hive with one of the two that has new queens.
I also have to do something with the nuc containing the old queen. So... what?
I could take the old queen out into a nuc again and use her future brood to boost other colonies for another few weeks perhaps?
What about the nuc full of bees though? Can I do a three way merge with the two boxes I mentioned above? Is the fact that they're currently on a swarming track an issue?
My ideal would be to have one strong colony for whatever nectar is left this year and an additional two colonies to bring through to next year. I'd settle for one additional colony to bring through winter.
What would some of you real beekeepers do?
I had 2 very small colonies coming out of winter... both of these started on swarming earlier than I hoped... not early... they were just still small colonies at the time.
The first - I attempted giving them an extra brood box and knocking back queen cells to delay the inevitable but it didn't work. I ended up losing the queen and split the two brood boxes. Both of these have raised new queens and only just started to lay in the last few days.
The second colony was also small and started on swarming about a week later. I took out the (2011) queen into a nuc and reduced the queen cells to the "best" one. I checked the hive yesterday to discover that the queen never emerged. Dead in the cell.
I should have kept a closer eye on the nuc in the meantime too... she's starting towards swarming again... some charged queen cups.
So... now... There's not much time left and I'd like some honey...
I think I'll merge the "dead in cell" hive with one of the two that has new queens.
I also have to do something with the nuc containing the old queen. So... what?
I could take the old queen out into a nuc again and use her future brood to boost other colonies for another few weeks perhaps?
What about the nuc full of bees though? Can I do a three way merge with the two boxes I mentioned above? Is the fact that they're currently on a swarming track an issue?
My ideal would be to have one strong colony for whatever nectar is left this year and an additional two colonies to bring through to next year. I'd settle for one additional colony to bring through winter.
What would some of you real beekeepers do?