Hive swarmed a week ago when I was away, what to do now?

[Pbutterworth]

Hi, Just over a week ago my hive swarmed, I was away so didn't have a chance to remove most of the swarm cells. Now I'm unsure what to do to stop it swarming a cast swarm again.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Paul

 

[Ely]

Knock down swarm cells down to one and wait. Alternatively, get rid of them all, come back in 5 days, get rid of emergencies and buy a queen.

 

[OH honey]

Knock down swarm cells down to one and wait. Alternatively, get rid of them all, come back in 5 days, get rid of emergencies and buy a queen.

Why would you remove your own Q then spend money to buy one in?

 

[Blunt Spike]

Why would you remove your own Q then spend money to buy one in?

Possibly because it went with the initial swarm?

You could let them requeen, but thats not a guaranteed outcome, and it causes delays in the colony growth which could impact on honey production.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Wally Shaw's "There are queen cells in my hive" is useful. Page 17 by your description.

 

[Pbutterworth]

So thats still what to do, even 8 days later, will go in later.

Just now I thought they were about to swarm again, but they seem to have settled down and started bearding.

 

[Pbutterworth]

Wally Shaw's "There are queen cells in my hive" is useful. Page 17 by your description.

Wow, I've never heard that method before, sounds totally counterintuitive to release more queens!

 

[Ely]

Why would you remove your own Q then spend money to buy one in?

Reliable genetics. Good traits. I've never been able to get good queens with my local genetics. Of course it depends how many colonies you have. If you have hundreds you can select your own good traits from your good colonies. I only have a few hives so order my queens from Exmoor bees and Beehives. There is no comparison to their's and my local 'pot luck' queens. And then there is the delay while waiting for a queen to get mated, if the weather turns nasty, that might not happen. The queens pay for themselves in the honey sales.

 

[Ely]

So thats still what to do, even 8 days later, will go in later.

Just now I thought they were about to swarm again, but they seem to have settled down and started bearding.View attachment 36308

Looks like they were desperate for a full hive and ran out of space. If there are still loads of bees, move them to brood box with foundation for them to draw.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Wow, I've never heard that method before, sounds totally counterintuitive to release more queens!

Its probably one of the best things to do .

 

[ericbeaumont]

started bearding.

There's no way a colony that strong would have stayed in one brood box and not swarm!
Three for the queen, maybe, and two more for honey, but a month ago.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Its probably one of the best things to do .

Last week I had a colony just like it but you have to go through the colony with a fine tooth comb shaking every brood frame off of bees and releasing all even if they aren’t ready to emerge being swarm cells they won’t all be the same age .

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Is this where the queens fight it out to the last 'royal' insect? Or can you still get casts making a break for it?

Probably be able to hear some piping as the VQs threaten each other. ?

 

[OH honey]

Reliable genetics. Good traits. I've never been able to get good queens with my local genetics. Of course it depends how many colonies you have. If you have hundreds you can select your own good traits from your good colonies. I only have a few hives so order my queens from Exmoor bees and Beehives. There is no comparison to their's and my local 'pot luck' queens. And then there is the delay while waiting for a queen to get mated, if the weather turns nasty, that might not happen. The queens pay for themselves in the honey sales.

Only been doing this for 3 years, so what do I know? started with 1 small donated colony. However never bought a Q, only use Q the bees make and last year had ~60lbs honey.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Is this where the queens fight it out to the last 'royal' insect? Or can you still get casts making a break for it?

Probably be able to hear some piping as the VQs threaten each other. ?

Is the piping a threat call or more of an avoidance call , I’ve had virgins look up at me when there wasn’t other virgins in the hive and pip at me perhaps she thought I was a virgin

 

[Pbutterworth]

There's no way a colony that strong would have stayed in one brood box and not swarm!

Three for the queen, maybe, and two more for honey, but a month ago

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Is the piping a threat call or more of an avoidance call , I’ve had virgins look up at me when there wasn’t other virgins in the hive and pip at me perhaps she thought I was a virgin

Only heard piping once and that was a nuc which I'm pretty sure had only one queen. It was in the evening when I went to fill up a feeder.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

never bought a Q, only use Q the bees make and last year had ~60lbs honey.

with a season like we had last year a yield of only 60lbs tells me it was a pretty mediocre colony. Requeen and get some decent genetics in there

 

[drex]

Rearing my own queens added a new dimension to my beekeeping. In only a few years, with only a dozen or so colonies I now have bees I am happy with. At my last inspection I thought back to my early days, when the white ribbon round my hood would be black with stings. Only get the occasional sting now and happy with my crop.

 

[Little_bees]

However never bought a Q, only use Q the bees make and last year had ~60lbs honey.

Was that per hive or per apiary?