supercedure balls up, help please.

[menteth]

Hi everyone, sorry if this is a well trodden path.
I'm pretty new to beekeeping.
I was given (a month ago) a hive and bees (national). The last owner said the queen was 2 years old. lots of activity. 1 full super already.
I don't often get to look inside, as I'm away welding often for weeks on end.
Looked inside last night. Bees very edgy.
found queen- she's there.
lots of queen cells (about 15). Some capped.
Also lots and lots of capped drone (one full solid frame), which tells me that the queen is failing.
I rung a beekeeping friend for advice- "destroy queen cells". WHICH I DID!
And now I massively regret going against my instincts.

There is young brood inside the hive
I'd also prefer it if half the bees didn't disappear in swarm.

1. Will they make another queen? They are a gentle very hard working black bee that I like, so would rather not re-queen from a supplier
2. Should I wait until the next one is about to hatch- and then get rid of the old queen?
3. Should I get rid of her now and let the workers make another (before she swarms)?
4. Should I do none of the above?
5. Should I get rid of that whole frame of drone brood too? (They're hungry)

Thanks for reading some advice would be great.
The bee forum is great for morons like me.
Advice please.
Can I salvage things?

 

[Tom Bick]

Your bees are almost certainly going to swarm and perhaps the recent cold spell has held them back. If you removed all the qc’s then they will be busy building more or they just may decide to go anyway with only half finished cells.

One frame of drone brood could be a frame for culling drones and the person who gave you the hive will be able confirm this.

 

[beeno]

Hi Tom and Menteth,
Question for Tom really. Is there any reason why Menteth should not A/S this colony as he can find the queen and provided he can see eggs?

 

[Russel]

Hi everyone, sorry if this is a well trodden path.
snip snip
Looked inside last night. Bees very edgy.
found queen- she's there.
lots of queen cells (about 15). Some capped.
Also lots and lots of capped drone (one full solid frame), which tells me that the queen is failing.
I rung a beekeeping friend for advice- "destroy queen cells". WHICH I DID!
And now I massively regret going against my instincts.

There is young brood inside the hive
I'd also prefer it if half the bees didn't disappear in swarm.

1. Will they make another queen? They are a gentle very hard working black bee that I like, so would rather not re-queen from a supplier
2. Should I wait until the next one is about to hatch- and then get rid of the old queen?
3. Should I get rid of her now and let the workers make another (before she swarms)?
4. Should I do none of the above?
5. Should I get rid of that whole frame of drone brood too? (They're hungry)

Thanks for reading some advice would be great.
The bee forum is great for morons like me.
Advice please.
Can I salvage things?

Why do a lot of beek's assume that because there are lots of drone cells the queens failing( it's swarming season so they produce drones don't ch know?) and why oh why would you tell someone to destroy all QC's without first getting them to do a thorough inspection to ascertain what's really going on. Destroying QC's will not stop them swarming , it may delay them and if your Q was failing you've now been advised to destroy any possible new Q's?
Beats me!

 

[Tom Bick]

Hi Tom and Menteth,
Question for Tom really. Is there any reason why Menteth should not A/S this colony as he can find the queen and provided he can see eggs?

Yes I think he should but may be best to let them build more queen cells.

 

[menteth]

Hi everyone, as the queen is still there, and maybe as they're going to swarm anyway, and all I've done is delay the process; I should do an artificial swarm?
Is that a good idea?
Should Ido the a/s now? Or wait a bit. It seems that as with lots of bee procedures-timing is the key and I seem to be awful at it.
Also - HOW ? Thanks all

 

[Beanwood]

Hi everyone, sorry if this is a well trodden path.
I'm pretty new to beekeeping.
I was given (a month ago) a hive and bees (national). The last owner said the queen was 2 years old. lots of activity. 1 full super already.
I don't often get to look inside, as I'm away welding often for weeks on end.
Looked inside last night. Bees very edgy.
found queen- she's there.
lots of queen cells (about 15). Some capped.
Also lots and lots of capped drone (one full solid frame), which tells me that the queen is failing.
I rung a beekeeping friend for advice- "destroy queen cells". WHICH I DID!
And now I massively regret going against my instincts.

There is young brood inside the hive
I'd also prefer it if half the bees didn't disappear in swarm.

1. Will they make another queen? They are a gentle very hard working black bee that I like, so would rather not re-queen from a supplier
2. Should I wait until the next one is about to hatch- and then get rid of the old queen?
3. Should I get rid of her now and let the workers make another (before she swarms)?
4. Should I do none of the above?
5. Should I get rid of that whole frame of drone brood too? (They're hungry)

Thanks for reading some advice would be great.
The bee forum is great for morons like me.
Advice please.
Can I salvage things?

Do you have sufficient equipment to do an A/S of any description, if not, can you borrow some PDQ?

Did you really destroy ALL of the QC's, they're very good at hiding them!.