Help !!! Cluster of bees under my AS hive !!!

[sean-a]

I have just got home and found a large (rugby ball) sized clump of bees clinging to the underside of my hive.

I found queen cells a couple of weeks ago and performed an artificial swarm, putting the brood and one queen cell in the brood box on top of the super, and

a single frame of brood and the queen in the brood box at the bottom under a queen excluder.

Two have been separated for about 10 days and I thought that they were doing well.....


Should I shake the bees into a third brood box and try again?
Or move them back into their hive?

Its not easy this lark !!

 

[BeeJayBee]

Is this the box that contained the queen cells?

If so, it's possible that the young queen undershot the entrance when returning from a mating flight.

Check inside the hive to see if there are eggs, check the cluster of bees to see if there's a queen there and to see if they have started building comb - sometimes they do.

 

[sean-a]

Cluster returned to the broodbox

Yes, this was the box with the queencells in.
I took two middle combs our, most of the brood has hatched and no eggs or young brood.
I shook the bees back into the brood box and have put the queen excluder back on and reassembled the hive.

Will see what happens.

 

[beeno]

Hi sean-a,
Missed a queen cell? Any piping going on? You will have a virgin in there, so will need to take off QX soon.

 

[sean-a]

No, this was the box with all the brood and one queen cell, but no queen.
I think that the queen cell has hatched and the queen perhaps flown off to mate and missed the entrance on the way home.
The cluster was there yesterday evening, so I am hoping that I now have a fertile egg laying colony builder in residence!!!
No stores so I have given them a bit of syrup.
I will leave them a few days and see what has happened.

 

[Nige.Coll]

Does the top brood box with the queen cell have a separate entrance ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Does the top brood box with the queen cell have a separate entrance ?

a single frame of brood and the queen in the brood box at the bottom under a queen excluder.
If indeed a new queen was out on her nuptials she wouldn't have got through an excluder. There must be a separate entrance, surely

 

[Erichalfbee]

I shook the bees back into the brood box and have put the queen excluder back on and reassembled the hive.

Will see what happens.

I hope you didn't shake them into the bottom box?

 

[sean-a]

No, the two broodboxes have been separated and are about 3 foot apart.
I shook the bees back into the broodbox that used to be on the top.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Wait a minute ......when did you separate the boxes?

 

[sean-a]

I only left the box with the brood on top overnight, moved it the following day.
Boxes have been separated for about 10 days

 

[Erichalfbee]

Phew....OK then.
Leave them too it. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Nige.Coll]

Chances are you missed a queen cell and now have a surplus queen.
If they go back under the hive put them into a different box.

Had the same thing last year, three times I put them back in the box until I found the problem. They had built a queen cell up the middle of the comb and I had missed it.

 

[sean-a]

Thanks, I will have a look this evening. Hopefully they will be happy at home with the queen about to start laying eggs like there is no tomorrow!

 

[Obee1]

Thanks, I will have a look this evening. Hopefully they will be happy at home with the queen about to start laying eggs like there is no tomorrow!

Yeh cos bees always do what you want!

 

[sean-a]

Yeh cos bees always do what you want!

Bit like wives and children then!