Crowded hive?

[Hutty]

Hi, we bought a colony last autumn, all is well. This week they have swarmed twice, we don't know if the swarms went elsewhere or not. On last checking the hive it seemed very crowded in the brood box. Is this normal (some of the frames were unmovable)? We have put another new brood box on top, under the super as we weren't sure what else to do. Should we have left it alone? We have yet to spot the queen, but have seen some brood so assume she is there somewhere.
Any advice for us newbies would be gratefully received.
Thanks

 

[Tabby15]

Just a few questions which I think will help those with lots of knowledge answer
When you say last checking, do you mean post swarm?
Did you see any Queen cells?
Did you put the brood box on after the swarms?

 

[enrico]

If they have swarmed twice it is unlikely there is a queen in there other than a virgin. When a hive swarms you want to get in there and remove all but one possibly two queen cells otherwise they may keep swarming until you have no bees! All frames are moveable, you just need to prize them out. I think you need some help....do you have an experienced keeper that can come and help you out?
E

 

[Hutty]

The first swarm was last Tuesday, they all gathered on a large leaf near to the hive, with lots of buzzing around this area. My husband (the more knowledgable) checked them yesterday to find it rather crowded, then this morning there was a lot of swarming around the hive, quite a crowd flying about, lots of noise, then this quite suddenly calmed down to be normal again. Not sure if they flew off or just went back to the hive. We then checked the hive again and it is still pretty crowded, and pretty sure we saw a couple of queen cells. Then we put on the extra brood box. Was this the right thing to do, or maybe a 'crowded' hive is normal for this time of year?

 

[Hutty]

Thanks Enrico, we will have another look and see how many queen cells there are and maybe get rid of a few.

 

[oliver90owner]

I'm sorry to say all is not well.

You have likely already lost three swarms from your hive, unless the queen was clipped. One over a week before the most recent two, if those were close together.

When you say 'last Tuesday' you presumably mean 'Tuesday'. Or do you mean 'a week last Tuesday'? It is important. Are you sure this was a swarm today?

Without concise details about all that has occured we can only say what enrico stated - there will be a virgin queen, either loose in the hive or confined to her cell, along with possibly several others about to emerge.

 

[Hutty]

Thanks for the advice. Yes the swarm was on Tuesday (5 days ago), it was my day off which was why I was at home. I'm not sure about yesterday's as they didn't seem to gather in one 'lump' away from the hive as they did on Tuesday, they were all over one side of the hive and many more than usual flying in the air, it was very noisy.
Today we have decided to find the Queen, put her in another hive and then make sure there are only 1 or 2 queen cells left in the old hive.

 

[BeeJayBee]

The good thing is that you'll have two colonies instead of one, which means you'll be able to compare colony behaviour and maybe spot if something is wrong with one of them. You'll also be able to transfer frames between hives within your own apiary rather than risk bringing in disease from outside.

You might find it worth reading the Wales BKA booklet by Wall Shaw, called 'There Are Queen Cells In My Hive'. It's on this page http://www.wbka.com/information-station/

 

[enrico]

Thanks for the advice. Yes the swarm was on Tuesday (5 days ago), it was my day off which was why I was at home. I'm not sure about yesterday's as they didn't seem to gather in one 'lump' away from the hive as they did on Tuesday, they were all over one side of the hive and many more than usual flying in the air, it was very noisy.
Today we have decided to find the Queen, put her in another hive and then make sure there are only 1 or 2 queen cells left in the old hive.

Hutty.....if you have had swarm you won't find the queen and if you do it will be a virgin.....whatever you do don't take the queen from the hive they swarmed from, or the hive you put the swarm in. Pm me if you don't understand!
E