Swarming already!

[Marco666]

Unfortunately I had to leave for a few days and I think one or two of my colonies might have swarmed yesterday. My neighbours have seen lots of bees in their garden and this morning I had a look: I couldn't see the old queen and there were still queen cells in both colonies. I got rid of all queen cells but i'm not sure if they have swarmed or not. I'm not sure what to do now because I don't know if they are without a queen or not. What would it be next best move? Try to find the old queen? Let them raise a new one? Thank you very much.
Marco.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Unfortunately I had to leave for a few days and I think one or two of my colonies might have swarmed yesterday. My neighbours have seen lots of bees in their garden and this morning I had a look: I couldn't see the old queen and there were still queen cells in both colonies. I got rid of all queen cells but i'm not sure if they have swarmed or not. I'm not sure what to do now because I don't know if they are without a queen or not. What would it be next best move? Try to find the old queen? Let them raise a new one? Thank you very much.
Marco.

have they eggs?, were the queen cells capped?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

1) It is not "already" a month ago was "already". This is peak swarm season.

2) Assuming (I think it's fair) they have swarmed, removing all QCs would have been a serious mistake (I assume you don't mean you put two into nucs). Luckily you are likely to have missed some. If not, hope they have very young brood or you almost certainly have two hopelessly Q- colonies.

Don't beat yourself up; I have done far worse. But prepare to beg a frame of young brood off an Association member (not being a member would be something to beat yourself up over).

What I would do is look for eggs and 1 or 2-day old larvae (<2x egg size, roughly). If you have some in one, not the other, do a transplant. After that leave them alone for a few days and look for eggs (count your stars) or QCs. If there are some, do NOTHING for three weeks. If there are none <ADD> look for emerged QCs (easier to find; look from below). If none of those either </ADD>, start looking for a test frame. QCs in one not in the other is more subtle; check back with details in that case.

ADD If it really looks like one has not swarmed, you need to do an AS.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I couldn't see the old queen and there were still queen cells in both colonies.

When you say still were there queen cells there before?

What would it be next best move? Try to find the old queen? Let them raise a new one?
Marco.

The first move would have beel to confirm whether the queen had gone, see availability of eggs in the colony then take down all the queen cells (or all but one if they were Q-)

 

[Fatbee]

They certainly are swarming - was pleased as punch to discover a swarm in one of my bait hives only to discover it was one of mine! At least I caught it and didn't lose it.

Key thing for you is to hope that you have not knocked down all of the queen cells. How thorough were you going through the brood frames?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Did you do a Beekeeping Course with your local BKA ? What books have you got on Beekeeping so we can refer you to the relevant sections

 

[Nige.Coll]

"I couldn't see the old queen and there were still queen cells in both colonies"
"I got rid of all queen cells"


If they have no eggs/larvae you have rendered them hopelessly queenless unless you missed a queen cell.

"Let them raise a new one?"
They were trying to raise a new queen it would seem.

You should NEVER remove all the queen cells if you aren't sure they have a queen.
If you have done the ultimate boo boo then you will have to add a frame of eggs from another colony if you have one or try and get one from a friend.

 

[Marco666]

Thank you very much everyone. I will check for eggs and if there are none I will get a frame with eggs from my third hive. Fingers crossed.
Sorry for my ignorance!

 

[BeeJayBee]

Sorry for my ignorance!

No need to apologise, I think everybody does it but only once!

It's easy enough to get into a bit of a panic and tear down all the queen cells, only to realise as you're pulling off the last one that there isn't a single egg or young larva left in the hive.