How soon will a swarm swarm.

[Sussex Bees]

I caught a swarm in a bait box on 9th May and I moved them into a hive, I checked them on 19th May, there were a few play cups which i thought were empty. Fed them syrup to help them draw out combs. Checked today 26th May, 18 sealed queen cells!

 

[dn170221]

I have caught a swarm in the past that later that year needed artificially swarmed. I believe I hadn't given them a super quickly enough.
Was there room for the queen to lay on your previous inspection?
Did you give them all foundation or was some of it drawn comb?

 

[enrico]

But some are just smarmy! They seem to swarm just for the fun of it! It could be that they are not happy with queen. I would be tempted to leave one nice open queen cell and knock the old queen on the head.
E

 

[Sussex Bees]

I thought if there are sealed queen cells, the queen has already gone.

They have only been in the hive for 15days, and there is very little brood. They started out with a mixture of drawn comb and starter strips which they are drawing out nicely.

 

[thenovice]

I thought if there are sealed queen cells, the queen has already gone.

They have only been in the hive for 15days, and there is very little brood. They started out with a mixture of drawn comb and starter strips which they are drawing out nicely.

did you feed? sometimes if they backfill all the new comb with syrup, they swarm very soon again due to lack of space for the queen. that said, 15 days must be a record that even I can not beat

 

[Sussex Bees]

I fed after 10 days, but they haven't taken much.

 

[Nige.Coll]

18 sealed cells. get rid of them and the queen and requeen from decent stock.

 

[Sussex Bees]

I caught another swarm in a bait hive on 16th May, a week after the other swarm at the same location. I'm now wondering if this swarm came from the 9th May swarm.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I caught a swarm in a bait box on 9th May and I moved them into a hive, I checked them on 19th May, there were a few play cups which i thought were empty. Fed them syrup to help them draw out combs. Checked today 26th May, 18 sealed queen cells!

Happens to swarms with older queens. They probably haven't swarmed again - when they first settle in their new home the queen makes up for lost time/brood by laying as fast as they can draw comb, then, being older, drops dead from exhaustion.. What you've got is emergency queen cells to replace the dead queen. Keep the best and ditch the rest

 

[Sussex Bees]

Thanks Jenkinsbrynmair, that makes sense, I'll go and ditch a few of the smaller ones.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Happens to swarms with older queens. They probably haven't swarmed again - when they first settle in their new home the queen makes up for lost time/brood by laying as fast as they can draw comb, then, being older, drops dead from exhaustion.. What you've got is emergency queen cells to replace the dead queen. Keep the best and ditch the rest

I agree, seen this many times, and it's often in small swarms. The colony just about makes it to swarming strength, they swarm, she lays a few thousand eggs then pegs out. Boom, emergency cells in the brood section.
Look at this way, with a bit of luck you get a shiny new White dot queen!!
It means they probably will struggle a little, so if you have other colonies around that you could spare a frame with half a sheet of brood, it will boost them no end. Give them a little feed too whilst the queen is on her nuptials !!
Dosent Snelgrove say that swarming is a form of requeening!!

 

[Sussex Bees]

I left 3 whoppers.

 

[beeno]

I caught another swarm in a bait hive on 16th May, a week after the other swarm at the same location. I'm now wondering if this swarm came from the 9th May swarm.

Probably a cast from the same original colony.

 

[Sussex Bees]

They look like they could've come from the same colony.

 

[Sussex Bees]

Here's a couple of wired frames which had starter strips which they are drawing out nicely.

Or not!

 

[Sussex Bees]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=13118&stc=1&d=1464335199

 

[Sussex Bees]

So, nearly 3 weeks on from leaving the biggest queens cells, I now have dense patches of drone brood and a few patches of eggs, nothing in between. I'll give it a week to see if the eggs develop into drone or worker, before taking any action.

I am hoping to find a newly mated queen in a another colony, as a result of swarm control, so may have an older laying queen available soon. Any advice on introducing her to this colony which has potential DLW or DLQ?

I've tried uploading a photo of brood and eggs but keep getting upload errors!

 

[Sussex Bees]

I'm sure you are all waiting in suspense, to hear the latest instalment of this swarmy swarm, so here it is.

Checked them today and there is now a few patches of worker brood, quite a small brood pattern, but worker brood.

There also loads of young, very blonde drones!