Rightly or wrongly

[JCD]

I started keeping bees one year ago, and this is my first swarm season.

It took me a while to realise what was happening when I first saw my bees today. I asked myself why there were bees all over the outside of the hive, and covering the bushes nearby. When I turned round I saw a few hundred bees flying in the field about 20yds away. They hadn't formed any sort of cluster together and were seemingly just waiting for their queen. They were trying to swarm.

I donned my kit, lit the smoker, and found a cardboard box although because there wasn't a cluster of bees anywhere I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it! By the time I got back to the hive, luckily, most of the bees had returned and they were all walking back up inside. The queen, who is clipped, either didn't leave the hive, or managed to climb up the long grass outside the hive and re-enter. I was convinced that the queen would be in the hive.

This is a very strong colony, 2 1/2 brood boxes all with a lot of frames of brood, and two supers just so that they have somewhere to go. I haven't been able to inspect them for weeks.

Luckily the weather was good enough....just. I set about looking for queen cells, and the queen. I found queen cells on two frames, but despite looking for 2 hrs I failed to find the queen! I tried removing a few frames and
pairing them up and waiting, to no avail. I didn't see any eggs (I can never see any eggs) but there was unsealed brood. Because I didn't have the queen, I thought of using my horsley board. The problem there is that I'm away for a few days next week, and wouldn't be there to open the different entrances on the right days. I couldn't do an artificial swarm without the queen.....so thinking again I decided on the following.....

I stripped the hive down to the bottom brood box and removed four of the centre frames. I gently shook/brushed every bee off those frames into that brood box and put the frames to one side. I then gently shook/brushed every bee off all the other frames from all of the boxes and supers into that one brood box. (Not ideal I realise) I replaced the four frames and put the queen excluder on the top. Certain now that the queen, if there, is in that bottom brood box, (and so are all the drones).

I replaced the other brood boxes on top of the queen excluder and then the supers, crown board, and roof. The nurse bees can now go up and tend the brood. The queen, if there, is restricted for today.

My plan.......tomorrow, I am going to go in again, find the two frames with the queen cells and make up two nucs with brood and nurse bees and some stores. I shall be as certain as I can be that I won't be putting the present queen in a nuc. I won't need to go into the bottom brood box. When done, I shall replace the queen excluder above the highest brood box, and reassemble the hive. I'm hoping it will be warm enough again tomorrow to carry out my plan.

I realise that the colony will still be in a swarming frame of mind and will, little doubt, build more queen cells. But at least I hope, that this is a delay tactic which 'might' keep the bees at home until I return in about 9 days. I wish!

If anyone can think of a better plan before lunchtime tomorrow then please let me know!


Thank you

 

[oliver90owner]

Split the hive, leaving the queen on the old site, queen cells to the new location. It would have been better had you brushed them into foundation plus a couple frames of brood - tomorrow your split would have been effectively an A/S.

They need foundation to build or they will likely remain in swarm mode and be gone before you get back.

So I would say, make your nuc with one cell and lots of house bees; leave the other cell in the parent colony and get plenty of foundation into that bottom box. Then cross your fingers tat a) she does't swarm, the parent colony do not build more queen cells and that there are enough house bees in the nuc. Feed will be needed for them, too - particularly if the weather is as it has been for the previous month. You have some planning to do. Good luck.

Regards, RAB

 

[JCD]

Thank you RAB