swarm changed its mind

[Bitbybit]

Quick history. Purchased two nucs last July. One came through winter well the other never really got going became Q- and dwindled away.
Bit of a panic this evening!! I went for a quick look at my hive only to find them swarming and settling on a near by tree. I ran back to the house returned with a ladder, saw and pillowcase. They were clustering quite high up and it looked like I would not be able to get high enough to capture them. To my delight the cluster started to return to the hive. I inspected the hive and found 5 capped queen cells. They had been in one box over winter and I added a box of frames underneath two weeks ago (I want to change hive type and had intended on working the 1st box up and off over time) The new box has not really been worked in any major way some new drawn comb but plenty of room for expansion. Am I assuming the queen had her wings clipped and they returned to the hive as she was not among them? Was putting the new box underneath a mistake? How best to proceed from here. (I have a second empty hive from the failed nuc.)

 

[enrico]

Clipped queen seems likely, you should always find out if your queen is clipped when you get bees, it helps to know!
What I would do is leave a good charged uncapped queen cell and get rid if all others. Why? Because if you leave the cells there it is likely that you will still lose a swarm with the first one to emerge.
You need to inspect more regularly to prevent this.
I might be tempted to split the hive to increase my numbers to two for the winter, it is safer to go into the end of a year with at least two hives. Honey may be non existent this year....up to you
I think you need to do a bit more hands on!
E

 

[Bitbybit]

Thanks Enrico, I have not been inspecting due to the cold tempretures, its only really been the last copuple of days that the days have become fine. If I decide to split the hive want is my best course of action?

 

[enrico]

Depends if you do have a queen in there or not. I would take a frame with a good queen cell and put it in a nuc together with a couple of frames of bias and some stores if there are any. Leave that to one side in the hope that that will give you a new queen which you can build up like a normal nuc.
The old hive then needs leaving with either the Old queen or another queen cell. At the moment it appears you have one hive with possibly no queen, that way you are doubling your chances of survival of at least one colony although both are going to be weak. I would feed 1:1 for them to build up any foundation, if you have drawn comb to fill the gaps from your old dead hive then even better. You are aiming for one full hive and one new nuc.
That's what I would do in your position, of course others may not agree!

 

[Bitbybit]

Thanks again Enrico, I had intended getting a second nuc this summer (if I could get it past the wife without a revenge shopping spree) I am new to this and had not expected swarming after the late spring/summer we had, there has only been a handful of days where inspection was possible- It was just luck that I spotted the swarm this evening! Now that I am no longer in panic mode I think I will try and split the hive.

 

[enrico]

Please be aware, you need to look for that queen, she may have returned to the hive or even dropped into the grass and crawled up underneath. I would suggest you have a good look for her. You are playing with your only resource if you only have one hive so be careful!

 

[Bitbybit]

I will have a good look tomorrow, she's marked so if she is in there I should spot her. Today was a bit of a panic as for half an hour I was cutting branches, up a ladder, in a beesuit, trying to get nearer to a forming cluster ( I am really glad I took up a nice recreational pastime) then I am inspecting the hive trying to figure the next step but delighted that I had a second chance.