More Post Swarm Advice (it's all gone wrong?)

[Wantz Cottage]

Hello Hive Mind,

I thought we were possibly the most confused bee keepers ever, but reading the Swarm news pages tells me that maybe these bees aren't as predictable as I thought.. Anyway.. Please bare with the ramble and worries, We'd be grateful for your thoughts..

So we are new beekeepers, or rather I've had 3 colony's before and lost 2 in winters and one lot just flew off (so rubbish so far..). Now we bought an overwintered Nuc in March. We did as we were advised and fed them syrup waiting to wait until all the frames were drawn.

This Saturday I went in and checked on them and there were queen cells all over the shop, and at least one bloody great queen cast. Not realising that this meant that Swarming was already inevitable (apparently?) I got rid of almost all of the caps and cast..

Then on Monday we noticed that the bees were half swarming out of the front of the hive... and then we found the queen, doggedly walking up the garden path with a small retinue of helpers (half a dozen).. She tried to fly but couldn't.. (though the supplier has told me that they never clip their queens wings)

In a bit of a panic we put her in the nuc box they came in to start with.. and after some local bee keeper advice took 3 frames or so (maybe 4) and added them to the nuc box + a couple of spare empty old but made up frames we had..

So now we have one nuc, which seems to be functioning with the old queen a few feet away from the original hive.

And we have the hive down to 6 frames or so.. tons of bees...

My worry is that being as I knocked off all the casts and most of the queen cells other than perhaps a few caps (and have no idea whether there is a queen in there or not), should we wait and see.. or maybe order a queen.. Or try and figure out what's in there..?

I've ordered a new hive and all the bits to move the nuc'd old queen and co into

What do you think please?

T & L @ Wantz

 

[enrico]

Hi, the first thing you need to do is get an entertaining book like 'bees at the bottom of the garden' which will explain things easily for a beginner.
I am a little confused with what you mean by cast. A cast is normally a further swarm leaving your hive with a virgin queen after the main one has left with your queen.
Anyway, it appears you have your main hive with eggs so they can still make queen cells, and you have a queen with a few bees in a nuc which may or may not survive.
I think the problem was that you fed too much, the queen obviously thought that she had plenty of stores and a strong hive and that is probably why she chose to swarm, that is how hives reproduce themselves which is what it is all about to them!
Managing these swarms can be done differently depending on what suits you best but you need to understand how and why you do what you do! That comes from reading or experience. Try and get another keeper to let you watch what they do in their hives.
I wouldn't go ordering queens yet, the bees want to survive so let them have a go at it first. Make sure you fill any spaces in your main hives with frames otherwise they will build wild comb in it and then you WILL be in a mess!
Oh! And welcome to the forum!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Sorry - queen casts and caps? lost me there before starting

 

[REDWOOD]

OK what you have done is pagdon AS but you need to put the nuc with the old queen on the original site ( if not to late ) so all the flying bees can join her to suppress further swarming. reduce main hive to one QC or if the are two together of the same age then you could leave them (but that's up to you)

 

[Wantz Cottage]

Hi, Thank you both..

Apologies for the queen cast's / caps confusion. Like any new field it involves learning a new language. I do have some books (and have read them), and have also been helped by a full time local bee keeper so far. He's pretty busy though and his advice now has just been "Leave em to it and they'l sort them selves out" Tacit.. (he is a Yorkshireman)

I came upon this site today, and thought I'd see if any further advice might be different? It seems about the same.. If I can do more to give them a better chance being as I missed the swarm clues to late then I'd like to. But I'll wait and see how they do.

Frames and new hive is on its way.

Thanks again Enrico & Jenkins..

 

[Wantz Cottage]

Thanks Redwood,

So.. you advise carry out Step 5 as directed here..?

http://barnsleybeekeepers.org.uk/pagden.html

Thank you..

 

[drex]

Your mentors advice is very good. The biggest pest to the bees is the beekeeper. If in doubt leave them to it. They have been at it for thousands of years and want to survive. You will get more confident with time but still might not do the best thing for your bees. Enjoy.