Demaree

[bees knees]

We did a demaree on all 3 of our colonies 8 days ago to try and prevent swarming. One colony I think we were too late as there were already early charged q cells. Today it looks like they have swarmed leaving lots of q cells behind in both brood boxes.

The other 2 colonies look much better - definitely laying queens in the bottom brood boxes. What I'm not sure should have happened though is that there are a few capped q cells in both colonies in the top (old brood) boxes. We have removed these but why would they have developed? Is it because the old brood boxes are above 2 supers and therefore quite a way from the queen so the bees up top think they haven't got one? This is our first time trying the demaree method and I do hope we haven't messed up! All comments gratefully received.

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's exactly why you got QCs up top. You can knock them down or use the queens for another colony. Beekeepers use a Demaree to make queens not just for swarm prevention.
If you Demareed 8 days ago and the QCs are sealed they must have made them as soon as you closed up or you missed some early ones.

 

[bees knees]

Thanks Erichalfbee. I feel reassured that we've done ok now!