Swarm advice please.

[fullframe45]

Advice re swarming please. I discovered yesterday that one of my DB poly hives is extreemly full and i found two play cups on the bottom of the frame in the top box . One empty and one with a small ammount of jelly.,Unfortunatly i destroyed this one while looking into it.I removed two frames of brood and eggs to another lesser hive to make more room and replaced with drawn foundation and added another super to the existing one they are almost half way in to filling.With my limited knowledge it looks like they are planning to swarm and i have spare equipment handy ready for AS. Should i leave a couple of days and check again to see what they are planing and if they have started work on the other cup or more,or procede with AS straight away. Or should i leave till thay make more cells.This was last years queen and she was my best out of five hives. Thank you.

 

[Murox]

Given what you have done already I would suggest waiting, be sure to note down days/dates etc. Play cups on their own are nothing to be concerned about

 

[Dodge]

Given what you have done already I would suggest waiting, be sure to note down days/dates etc. Play cups on their own are nothing to be concerned about

The OP does say the one cup appeard charged with jelly. Leaving it a few days will be fine but I usually use charged cells, even one if I don't suspect supercede as the point of no return and they will swarm if no action is taken.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Look again in three days
If you have queen cells then AS
If none then back to weekly inspections

 

[fullframe45]

Thank you ,i will have another look tomorrow and see what they have been up to. But looks like they are considering swarming so to be on the safe side it looks as if i will have to AS before it too late. Thank you again. dont know how i would manage without this forum and a couple of great posters on Yutube.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Let us know how you get on and good luck

 

[fullframe45]

Just a quick update .I checked the colony again this afternoon..Removed bothe supers and went into theDB hive.Absolutly jamed full of bees and to my mind a lot more than my last check three days ago. They had been very busy and i counted eight or more cups,with four charged with jelly .None sealed but i think they would have been gone had i left them much longer.
So i went through the top box three times but couldnt see the Q but did see eggs I went through the bottom box twice also with no joy. I am dissapointed because i have previously seen her and she is marked white.So i just had to follow the apiarist instructions for AS when the Q can not be found and hope for the best.Not sure what else i could do.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you followed David Evans instructions it should work.
By the way. There’s no such thing as a charged queen cup. It’s a queen cell

 

[fullframe45]

Ill update in seven days .Thank you.