Bitbybit
New Bee
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.)
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.)