Queenless, plenty of primed QCs...do I split?

[goodbobby]

I have been concentrating on my other colonies which I artificially swarmed a week ago. As a result hive 1 a busy (swarm originated) colony has not been looked at for nearly two weeks and on that occasion I saw the marked queen, plenty of brood, eggs and stores.

Today, I carried out an inspection on hive 1... plenty of bees but could not find the queen,did not see eggs but there were about a dozen queen cells,some with larva and a couple sealed. The hive was not overcrowded and a couple of frames were still not drawn out. This hive has already been supered and I added a second super today as the first is 70% full.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and will revisit apiary tomorrow to try and sort it out, hopefully before it swarms. Any ideas/ tips please ? Should I have another search for the queen and then if no luck split colony into an empty hive, making up gaps with new frames? Guidance would be greatly appreciated please as I can't seem to find this particular scenario in my various books and I think I am a little late to do a test frame. Obviously, if I find the queen tomorrow I will A/S.

 

[thurrock bees]

sounds like they have already swarmed. knock all but one QC on the head.

 

[MJBee]

I agree with TB, they sound as if they have already swarmed. I would leave two open queen cells that definitely have royal jelly and a larvae and remove all the rest. (The cells already sealed may be empty).

If you want to be absolutely sure they will not throw a cast swarm go through them again in 5 days and leave the best of the two cells. Do not shake the frame with the queen cell on but shake the bees off all the other frames and treble check there are no more cells tucked away, they are very good at hiding them

 

[whizzwheels]

I would agree. If the queen cell is capped then they have already swarmed.

 

[goodbobby]

why open qcs ?

Thanks guys.....Why, in this instance, would I need to select open queen cells when there are a couple of capped ones present?

Also, if they have swarmed which seems almost certainly to be the case, why are the change in bee numbers apparently quite small, almost to small to notice? Or can they send out a cast swarm initially?

Please educate a slow learner!!

 

[Gardenbees]

The snag with keeping sealed cells is simply that you can't see whether there's anything in them or not! They are sometimes empty (or failed). A still-open cell is a better bet because you can see in and check that a) there's someone in there and b) they look OK.

It can be hard to tell if a hive has swarmed. New eggs are a sign that a queen is there, so if there's no new eggs for several days then the chances are that she's gone, taken a fair number of bees with her, and the new queen hasn't mated and started laying yet. If there are new eggs present, then the old queen is probably still there.

 

[goodbobby]

forgot to ask...

So, as I understand it, by removing all bar 2 open QCs I hopefully avoid more than one princess being produced and a series of cast swarms resulting?

 

[Poly Hive]

The main reason for keeping the open cells is time.

Time for the swarming urge to subside.

If yours are still hot to trot and the virgin/s emerge then yes you may well lose a cast as well.

As you already mentioned splitting I sugge3st you leave the main unit with one open cell and make up a nuc with the other so as to double your chance of a successful mating, and remember the nuc is likely to mate first being the smaller unit of the two.

PH