Beezy
House Bee
Hi,
I had a the bee inspector round (due to AFB in the area) and he found 3 Q (I sealed, 1 unsealed, 1 empty) cells in my colony that swarmed 3 weeks ago. This colony already has a laying new Q and there were lots of eggs present today. There is also loads of room and empty cells galore for laying and stores, so I really don't understand why they're thinking of swarming again?!!
The bee inspector was equally puzzled and suggested it may be a supercedure, but do bees ever raise more than one Q cell for supercedure?
I would be grateful for any advice. I don't really want to artificially swarm them as there will be hardly any bees left in either colony! Should I destroy these cells and then if they are really intent on supercedure/swarming they can use other eggs to do this? Or should I adopt a wait & see approach (although this may end up in swarming so I might lose lots of bees)? They are on 14x12.
Thanks!
I had a the bee inspector round (due to AFB in the area) and he found 3 Q (I sealed, 1 unsealed, 1 empty) cells in my colony that swarmed 3 weeks ago. This colony already has a laying new Q and there were lots of eggs present today. There is also loads of room and empty cells galore for laying and stores, so I really don't understand why they're thinking of swarming again?!!
The bee inspector was equally puzzled and suggested it may be a supercedure, but do bees ever raise more than one Q cell for supercedure?
I would be grateful for any advice. I don't really want to artificially swarm them as there will be hardly any bees left in either colony! Should I destroy these cells and then if they are really intent on supercedure/swarming they can use other eggs to do this? Or should I adopt a wait & see approach (although this may end up in swarming so I might lose lots of bees)? They are on 14x12.
Thanks!