First inspection of the year. Anything else?

[JamezF]

Perhaps they're breeding bees to be exceptionally good at hiding queen cells.

James

 

[Do224]

No. Their bees don't swarm

Surely they miss the odd cell every so often….

In all seriousness, I thought if you kept knocking queen cells down then the bees would eventually swarm before they had a capped cell?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Surely they miss the odd cell every so often….

In all seriousness, I thought if you kept knocking queen cells down then the bees would eventually swarm before they had a capped cell?

with normal beekeepers maybe - but if these are going in every two to three days the bees never get a chance to make any viable QCs to swarm on

 

[Erichalfbee]

Surely they miss the odd cell every so often….

In all seriousness, I thought if you kept knocking queen cells down then the bees would eventually swarm before they had a capped cell?

***

 

[JamezF]

I'd have thought that if you knock down absolutely every queen cell then eventually the colony would just die out. Or do they buy in mated queens on a regular basis?

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well they do lose the odd colony but not from knocking queen cells down. The bees eventually give up making them and get on with life. They do get the odd supersedure

 

[Curly green finger's]

Well they do lose the odd colony but not from knocking queen cells down. The bees eventually give up making them and get on with life. They do get the odd supersedure

Seems like a waste of time to me and a detriment to the bees.
Im all for keeping the colony building comb and queen right, I wouldn't fancy having twenty or so colonys being inspected like that either
Charged cells, I'll use nuc method and possibly split the remaining colony.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Seems like a waste of time to me and a detriment to the bees.
Im all for keeping the colony building comb and queen right, I wouldn't fancy having twenty or so colonys being inspected like that either
Charged cells, I'll use nuc method and possibly split the remaining colony.

It’s a rubbish way to keep bees. See my earlier comments

 

[elainemary]

I sold a Nuc today and was asked what I thought to a new Thornes ‘gadget’. A trap that stops the queen from getting out of the hive as ‘swarm control’. I urged my v nice fellow beekeeper, not to buy. Imagine the poor drones and colony morale.
And the virgin(s) / prime queen fisticuffs that would follow

 

[Erichalfbee]

Modern Beekeeping have had a langstroth version for some years. There was quite a discussion here about it some time ago. I'll see if I can find it

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/queen-trap-anti-swarm-system.6042/
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/mb-queen-trap-anti-swarm-device.33730/

 

[beeker]

Me again .
Read all the replies thank you, and understand what I did wrong in my panic to "do something". I now know to stop and go have a cup of tea and a think.
I've read both of the Wally Shaw guides, thank you @pargyle. And can see a bit clearer the way forward.
My next query,. The two hives that I knocked the Queen cells down in, are in my garden, they were never intended to be in a garden apiary, but they both attracted swarms while I had them stacked and empty last year and they stayed over winter. I have an out apiary, with one more colony but that is only a few hundred yards from home. I also from today can use my workplace, a trout fishery, way over the 3 miles away, and in what looks like a good forage area, with large closed off areas that I can access. My neighbour starts some short notice building work next week quite adjacent to garden hives so now seems a good time to move the garden hives to the new site.
I know I've got to carry out a split / AS at some point very shortly, and I need to inspect well before the 7 days as advised above. But do I need to let the hives orientate fully at their new home first? So the flyers can return to the other half after the split, or is there an advantage in splitting straight away? Anything else before I go do something wrong again.
I have two empty nucs and frames etc.
Thanks

 

[pargyle]

I would move the ones you want to relocate to your work site ...over three miles they will orientate almost immediately, you can inspect them any time you like but I'd give them a day or so to get over the move as travelling sometime shakes up the equilibium a bit. Once they are relocated you could split at the same time as the inspection at the new site if you find queen cells. Sounds like you are well prepared.

Once you have done the AS and the building works are complete you can relocate them to anywhere you wish - three miles back to your home apiary if you wish.