Imminent Swarm - what can I do urgently?

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When I get back from holiday I will see how my main hive is doing as the new queen should have mated. If she seems productive then I will leave her alone, but if she failed to mate or return to the hive then I would have a queen less hive.

I have a pretty unproductive hive (which was a swarm I was given last year) and also the swarm I just collected (which came from a colony of bees that had been living in a house chimney for 20 years). I was considering buying new queens for both of these hives as I'm not sure on the qualities of these two queens.
 
Worth giving the swarm queen a chance. Some swarms I've collected locally have been excellent, some have been awful both in terms of temperament and productivity and need re-queening. However, if they are any good, you could always combine with the small hive to save buying in a queen
 
Thanks, Yes I had also considered that as an option if the small hive doesn't pick up.
 
I checked my hives again on Saturday. The main hive still has a lot of bees, no new larvae or eggs so I’ll assume no queen. The large queen cell we identified is still present but not yet hatched. I found another queen cell and removed it and then sealed it all up.

The swarm hive is working hard, used all the syrup I’d added so I refilled that and added some fondant. Not sign of brood or eggs but they bees are busy repairing the old comb I’d given them.

I’ll check again when I get back from holiday and see ‘what’s occuring’
 
Back from my motorbike trip to the French Alps.

Inspected yesterday and the main hive is now got an active Queen, plenty of brood present, could actually find her though.
Swarm hive is doing very well and the 'weak' hive has a good number of bee, brood and stores (very angry bees though, one even stung me through my suit)

Plenty of Honey in the hives so I'll start taking some off in the next week or so once I've ordered some jars.

Thanks for all the help especially @Mint Bee
 
Back from my motorbike trip to the French Alps.

Years back I rode my GPX750 through the Alps from Interlaken to Nice with a lunch stop in Chamonix. Absolutely amazing scenery, but the hardest day's riding I've ever done. Hundreds of miles of switchbacks up and down the mountains. It was absolutely exhausting.

James
 
Years back I rode my GPX750 through the Alps from Interlaken to Nice with a lunch stop in Chamonix. Absolutely amazing scenery, but the hardest day's riding I've ever done. Hundreds of miles of switchbacks up and down the mountains. It was absolutely exhausting.

James
Great fun though
 

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