Beeyonce
New Bee
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2012
- Messages
- 45
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Surrey
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 2
Hi there
I'll try to keep a long story short and this may be a really stupid question.
My virgin queen finally came good and came in to lay about 7 weeks after I saw her run in (I have a theory that it took that long because she's a bit of a munter and the drones decided it was her or nothing, lol).
Now the bees are attempting to swarm again; 6 charged queen cells today about 2 to 3 weeks after she came in to lay. I cannot find the queen despite three runs through today but here's the thing; they're on double brood and she's laid up 7 frames but on one brood box only (my colonies are on double brood) and I don't really want to do an artificial swarm at this time of year. This colony has been a pain all year but I have noticed that they have only ever laid in the bottom box. So the other day when I found an egg in a queen cell I moved the empty bottom brood box to the top. Today, still no eggs in that box but all the queen cells. Today I've swapped some of the frames for other frames as I'm sure I've read somewhere that bees don't like to use cells for brood that have previously held stores. Could this be the problem or has this colony finally driven me round the bend? Or do I just have to suck it up and do an AS?
If you have managed to read this far I thank you sincerely, apologies!
I'll try to keep a long story short and this may be a really stupid question.
My virgin queen finally came good and came in to lay about 7 weeks after I saw her run in (I have a theory that it took that long because she's a bit of a munter and the drones decided it was her or nothing, lol).
Now the bees are attempting to swarm again; 6 charged queen cells today about 2 to 3 weeks after she came in to lay. I cannot find the queen despite three runs through today but here's the thing; they're on double brood and she's laid up 7 frames but on one brood box only (my colonies are on double brood) and I don't really want to do an artificial swarm at this time of year. This colony has been a pain all year but I have noticed that they have only ever laid in the bottom box. So the other day when I found an egg in a queen cell I moved the empty bottom brood box to the top. Today, still no eggs in that box but all the queen cells. Today I've swapped some of the frames for other frames as I'm sure I've read somewhere that bees don't like to use cells for brood that have previously held stores. Could this be the problem or has this colony finally driven me round the bend? Or do I just have to suck it up and do an AS?
If you have managed to read this far I thank you sincerely, apologies!