Help! Have they swarmed, and what should I do?

[HelenX]

I have been reading everything on here for weeks, and was beginning to think I could cope - but it has all gone wrong!

Last Thursday I had a happy hive (my first - an overwintered nuc). They had loads of brrod and eggs, had three-quarters drawn out and half filled the first super, and I put another super of foundation on just in case.

Today was my first chance to go back to them, and I found five sealed queen cells (all on one frame) and no eggs. The only brood is almost ready to be sealed - no young ones. The bees were a little more excitable than usual - they are usually so quiet I hardly use any smoke). I didn't see the queen. There seem to be too many bees to have swarmed, and it has been chilly for the last few days, but no doubt they are about to.

What do I do now, given that I seem to have no laying queen, only one frame with queen cells, and no eggs or young brood?

I have an empty hive full of foundation. I will not have another colony for another month, when I have two nucs ordered.

Please help!
Helen

 

[Otleybee]

The books say that you have to reduce the number of queen cells to one to prevent a cast leaving when the first queen hatches. I made the mistake of leaving two and lost a cast.

Then you have to wait for her to hatch and mate.

 

[gavin]

Or you could split the remaining colony into two halves, cut out one queen cell (carefully, taking plenty of wax behind it) and pin it into a second frame in the other hive (cocktail stick does the job). If your priority is to increase stocks.

It is a hard lesson many make in year two, and I was no exception. You need to watch them like a hawk at this time of year.

 

[PaleoPerson]

Very carefully check to ensure the queen has gone. I have just completed an A/S and the queen had slimmed down and stopped laying, but she was still there. I am just about to go and check them again today as they may have still had it in their minds to swarm anyway even after the split.

 

[oliver90owner]

Whatever the books might say, your colony has likely swarmed.

You only have a single colony at the moment.

What you really need is two olonies, at least temporarily. Leaving one queen cell and hoping it a) emeges and b) mates successfully is taking more risk than you need.

If she has departed, I would carefully split the colony when the queens are almost ready to emerge from their cells.

I would carefully place the single cell in the split on the original position and leave another two in a box on another position close by.

It would appear the emergence is not far ahead, if there is little open brood.

You can tell a ripe queen cell by it having a characteristic darkening near/around the capping end. They usually darken in the last couple of days of incubation. At that poiint the cells are much more robust than at earlier stages when they must not be shaken (or risk death of the pupa).

Cutting a chunk of comb is far easier than trying to remove a small section with the cell(s).

The reason for two cells in the 'moved' half is because of the risk of damaging the emerging queens - and all the flying bees will return to the original position, so there is little risk of them swarming as a secondary cast from that half of the split.

There will still be brood emerging, so even though she may well have gone already, there will be several day's worth of new house bees in the hive.

Hope this helps a bit. You could probably do with some assistance from a local beek. Increasing to two colonies will probably mean little honey crop, but is better than just the one, or the two can be united later if you only wish to retain the single colony. Remember a lot of your crop will already have gone if the swarm has left (I am expecting it has) because most of your foragers have departed, taking with them some of the crop and there will be about a month break in brooding between her stopping laying and a new queen starting.

Regards, RAB

 

[HelenX]

Thank you all very much for these replies (and for all the advice to other people, which has been a brilliant supplement to my beginners course).

I managed to get through to the very helpful person I bought them from at mid-day, and he advised leaving two cells and destroying the others, so I dashed back to the bees and did that. This time I checked the other frames again and found more sealed Queen cells, so left one on each of two frames.

Now I have read the rest of your replies, I am thinking perhaps I should have split them while I was there, using three cells altogether, as per RABs advice.

Now it is too late for that, should I go back again and split them into two hives, with one QC in each? Or should I leave well alone for three weeks, as advised on the phone? I am frightened of disturbing them too much (but that is probably why I didn't see the evidence last week, and why I have lost a swarm!)

Until this morning, I have really enjoyed my first month's beekeeping, and I am looking forward to my next two nucs, due at the end of the month!

Helen

 

[oliver90owner]

If they are strong enough to split, that is what I would do in your situation.

Two laying queens is far better than none! (see b) above). Temper that with the last line in your first post - which I ignored when initially answering - so no real panic, other than risking losing most of your initial investment!

Now, are you a member of your local BKA? Do you know any local beekeepers? You may need some more help if you suddenly have 4 small expanding colonies towards the end of next month.

Regards, RAB

 

[HelenX]

Thank you - this has helped -will do as you say. - and yes, I do belong to the local BKA, but have not yet got to know anyone very local!