Hived Swarm Qns

[JohnRB]

Hello All,

A newbie with a few questions. I started beekeeping this year and have a hive at the local association apiary which I have been learning from. An association member also helped me out with a swarm on 14 May which I hived in my spare hive in a friends orchard. The colony started well and drew out 6 frames of foundation in 4 days. A check a few days later showed more comb, collection of nectar and pollen but no eggs. I couldn't see the queen, but I know from my time at the association apiary that I am rubbish at spotting the queen. I then sat on my hands for 10 days until this morning when I did the first proper inspection. Wall to wall eggs and larvae over 4 1/2 frames. The size of the largest larvae makes me think the Queen started laying about 7 days ago - 17 days after swarming. Again I couldn't find the queen. Now the questions:

One frame had several cells with several eggs in, but the other frames were 99% single eggs bang centre at the bottom of the cell. I've read that laying workers often lay multiple eggs so was worried about this as a possibility. There were also a small number of cells that had been used to store pollen that also had eggs in on top of the pollen. I think I've read that a new Queen can take a while to settle down and that this could be the cause - thoughts?

Some cells seem to be being drawn out into drone cells - is it usual for a new laying queen to lay drones? I also found one very strange cell - see photo here: https://goo.gl/photos/XZUKc2vVdWzbnivH8 and https://goo.gl/photos/MWP1yt4AcPZZhT5o6 This weird cell looks like it has been drawn out on top of another cell. There is a big fat larva in it (but no royal jelly as far as I can see) and it looks as if the base of the cell is about level with, or just below, the surrounding cells. Is this probably just an anomaly, or could it be their idea of a supersedure cell?

I was surprised to find around 10 play cups spread across the bottom of several frames. After finding eggs in the main brood area I spoiled the cups and confirmed that they were all empty. It seems very early for them to be doing this, or could they be harbouring a desire to swarm again? There is still plenty of room in the brood box, but their chosen layout seems odd to me. The frames are orientated the warm way with the following makeup starting at the entrance. 1 frame stores, 5 brood (with the top 25% and sides filled with nectar/honey), 1 stores and 3 undrawn blank foundation. The effect is the bees all seem to be crowded into the front of the box. I moved one frame of foundation forward between the rear of the brood and the stores frame in the hope it would encourage them to draw it out. I was reluctant to move a frame of foundation to the front of the hive as this seems to be their preferred living area. Should I reconsider doing this to try and gradually move the main brood area back towards the centre or just leave well alone.?

Should I think about putting a super on?

All that said the bees were great to work with - I find some of the association bees quite aggressive, but these, so far, couldn't be more placid.

Sorry for long post and looking forward to any comments.

 

[thomaso123t]

Hi. I think you may have either compromised queen or developed a laying worker.
From my experience swarmed queen should start to lay eggs as soon as the first comb is drawn. One way to check if your hive is queenlees is to put a comb with eggs from the other hive. Should you see bees drawing queen cells from it, it will be clear indication that no queen present. My guess is that the cell shown on the picture is a drone cell.
Multiple eggs and eggs on the top of the pollen are typically associated with very newly mated queen or laying worker. Don't ignore this symptoms. After so many days without the queen you need to act fast.
Tom

 

[Erichalfbee]

So you looked in today and saw eggs. You have a queen then.
Your swarm was probably headed by a virgin which is why she didn't lay immediately. She had to get out to mate. As for getting that foundation drawn pop a frame each side of the brood nest, back and front between the brood and stores ( but don't split the brood nest) they will draw the face nearest the nest first and if you want you can look in a few days to turn the frame round. I wouldn't worry about a few misplaced eggs or drone cells. Get somebody from your association to come along and mark her for you. They won't need a super till alll the frames are drawn and occupied by bees with 80% of the space being brood. Well done and good luck

 

[Vortex]

Just to follow on from Eric's comments..
It's not unusual for a newly mated queen to lay several eggs in a cell for the first 24 hours .. it takes her a while to get into the swing of things.
If you get no more occurrence of multiple eggs per cell then you're probably in the clear as far as the queen goes. In addition any laying workers should now be repressed by the presence of queen pheromone from the laying queen.
As to drone cells .. all colonies even those from swarms will be producing drones at this time of year .. anything up to 15% of the colony strength can/should be drones around now..
Warm way/cold way makes no difference.. if they're all predominantly on and using only one side of the box it's because that's the warmest side .. as the colony expands they will use more of the box, but you may still find there are spots on some of the frames they refuse to use.. as long as you're not putting a non-brood face against brood and a brood face facing out then just turn the frames round..

 

[JohnRB]

Thank you for your replies. Laid my mind to rest. In about 2 weeks this hive is going to explode with bees, can't wait

 

[Anduril]

My guess is that the cell shown on the picture is a drone cell

Definitely drone cell.

 

[kevrhcfag]

Hi. I think you may have either compromised queen or developed a laying worker.
From my experience swarmed queen should start to lay eggs as soon as the first comb is drawn. One way to check if your hive is queenlees is to put a comb with eggs from the other hive. Should you see bees drawing queen cells from it, it will be clear indication that no queen present. My guess is that the cell shown on the picture is a drone cell.
Multiple eggs and eggs on the top of the pollen are typically associated with very newly mated queen or laying worker. Don't ignore this symptoms. After so many days without the queen you need to act fast.
Tom

Not if a virgin it doesn't.

 

[JohnRB]

Just an update to close this thread down. My last inspection showed lots of sealed worker brood, larvae and single eggs bang centre of the cell so I definitely have an OK Queen. Looks like the multiple egg laying was just her getting into the swing of things and the lesson I have learned is that I need to be more patient!