UKTomTheBomb
New Bee
Hello all, would be grateful for any advice on what next action should be!
Year two for me, they've left me scratching my head for 2 weeks on the trot..pacing around the garden wondering what to do next.
Some background on my story so far this year. Not sure if any/all of this is relevant to what is happening the hive today, but here goes...I've been trying to move from standard to 14 X 12 frames and started this process during the warm weather in March. The hive was bursting with bees and on first inspection post over-wintering they had built a great chunk of wild comb above the crown board (in which the queen had layed). So I put a 14x12 brood box & foundation above the existing standard box. Left alone and then the weather turned and it's been hard to find the right dry moment at the weekend to inspect. I went through the hive thoroughly last Monday 30th April (a week ago today) and found numerous sealed swarm cells, predominantly on the edges of frames in between the bottom and top brood boxes. Couldn't see any eggs. Bees were very grumpy and there seemed to be a great number of them, although all evidence was leading me to believe that there must have been a prime swarm leave already. I cut out all but two QCs. One stayed on a marked frame in the bottom (standard) box of the original hive and the other I moved on it's frame to a poly nuc with two extra frames of brood/stores. I wanted to make a nuc up so that my father-in-law can start this year.
Then today! to my surprise I went to inspect the main hive at about 4pm and found another load of sealed queen cells just on the 14X12 frames. There must 15 or so altogether over about 4 frames. They are all in the middle of the frames amongst sealed brood/ empty cells. They definitely weren't there a week ago, and they are all sealed. I went through the bottom brood box too and that was clear of queen cells this time. Could anyone with the expertise and experience that I don't yet have help me work out what they are up to and what my next move should be.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Year two for me, they've left me scratching my head for 2 weeks on the trot..pacing around the garden wondering what to do next.
Some background on my story so far this year. Not sure if any/all of this is relevant to what is happening the hive today, but here goes...I've been trying to move from standard to 14 X 12 frames and started this process during the warm weather in March. The hive was bursting with bees and on first inspection post over-wintering they had built a great chunk of wild comb above the crown board (in which the queen had layed). So I put a 14x12 brood box & foundation above the existing standard box. Left alone and then the weather turned and it's been hard to find the right dry moment at the weekend to inspect. I went through the hive thoroughly last Monday 30th April (a week ago today) and found numerous sealed swarm cells, predominantly on the edges of frames in between the bottom and top brood boxes. Couldn't see any eggs. Bees were very grumpy and there seemed to be a great number of them, although all evidence was leading me to believe that there must have been a prime swarm leave already. I cut out all but two QCs. One stayed on a marked frame in the bottom (standard) box of the original hive and the other I moved on it's frame to a poly nuc with two extra frames of brood/stores. I wanted to make a nuc up so that my father-in-law can start this year.
Then today! to my surprise I went to inspect the main hive at about 4pm and found another load of sealed queen cells just on the 14X12 frames. There must 15 or so altogether over about 4 frames. They are all in the middle of the frames amongst sealed brood/ empty cells. They definitely weren't there a week ago, and they are all sealed. I went through the bottom brood box too and that was clear of queen cells this time. Could anyone with the expertise and experience that I don't yet have help me work out what they are up to and what my next move should be.
Thanks in advance for any help.
