Sorry for long post . Ok with the extent of knowledge i have acquired thus far this is state of situation today after full inspection, with brief history of how i got to this point.
Attempted bailey comb change 18th april due to very old rotton hive n frames moving into new hive. Hive was doing well with plenty of bias n stores.
1st may hive attempted a swarm (1000's flying about) which i found perplexing as by then Q was in top new BB with QE over bottom BB of emerging brood. Had i missed queen cells prior to split i wondered. Probably.
Luckily it started raining so they gave up went back in and i did an artificial swarm. I had to take Q back out of top BB as they had bias to raise a new one, and put her back in original hive as by day13 of bailey there was no young enough eggs. I went through as thoroughly as i could and found no QC so again wondered why theyd attempted swarm. Since then they have attempted
4 swarms. Flooding out thousands of them buzzing about then giving up and going back in. Mating flight excitement i thought from a missed QC?? But 4 times? Checked hive over weekend and i saw no eggs, so started suspecting Q-.
So today after reading advice i checked again (with hubby to help) thoroughly, this is what i found and did. Original hive that had Q that i suspected was now Q- ...
All inner 8 frames honey bound with lots of nectar some capped honey and little pollen a small amount of capped brood still to emerge but no eggs or room for them either. Outer frames being drawn slowly. Looked for queen but could not find her. Play cups a plenty, dotted about a few inner frames.
Other spilt hive that had bias. Doing nicely, still some capped brood to emerge 15 QCells all along bottom hanging down and capped except one still with larve and uncapped. Drawing out nicely with nectar pollen and capped honey. So i cut out with room around them 4 healthy looking capped QCs and have grafted them onto a frame of partially drawn frame from the original hive and have popped it in the centre of original hive next to the capped brood. Ive placed the honey bound on either sides of the 2 frames of capped brood and the 1 frame of grafted for insulation and have left the outer frames of foundation on the outer edges. This hive is still bursting with bees on every frame snd doesnt even look like it was split population wise. Points that led me to think its Q- were strange behaviour. Open wings on entrance. Zero eggs. Cups. And no Q found. Im unsure if ive done the right thing. When honey bound and the Q goes off the lay would they not draw the outer 2 frames on either side for her to have more room? Should i be adding another BB to give them more room centrally ? Should i have moved the honeybound frames to the outer edges of BB to make them draw newer foundation near the capped brood. Im hoping ive offered them a solution till i can requeen with my exmoor buckfasts arriving at the end of the month. It had been my intention this year to split so i could have 2 hives. To move them into new hives. And to requeen with calmer bees that were bred in uk. Thoughts would be greatly appreciated thankyou for reading.
