uncapped queen cells

[markrogers]

being a new and very inexperienced bee keeper i would appreciate some advice on the following point.

we adopted our hive form the previous house owners last july. the hive was in a huge thicket of brambles and hadn't been attended for several years. we cleared the barmbles last autumn and found the hive in avery rickety state.

this spring with the help of a beekeeping friend we rehoused it in a new hive. we couldn't find the queen but eggs were present.

we put a super on and took off a few pounds of honey leaving the rest for the bees. we then increased the brood to a brood and a half to let them build up numbers (my idea).

yesterday we undertook an overdue examination and found queen cells. the ones we saw were on the bottom of the bars of the added brood half. unfortunately several cells were torn open (approx 4 with large pupae) when we pulled up the frames but at least 2 were undamaged and uncapped. the inspection was stopped at this point.

i have been given clive de bruyn's book and on swarming he says that usually the old queen won't swarm when there are uncaped queen cells. is this a 95% chance or what? i think it is unlikely that we would be able to find the old queen in a brood and a half when we couldn't find her in ony a brood.

i am thinking of starting a nuke with the uncapped queen cells as a precaution. what do you think?

just to help matters along it is pouring with rain which is likely to persist all day.

thanks for any help you can give me

mark

 

[oliver90owner]

i am thinking of starting a nuke with the uncapped queen cells as a precaution. what do you think?

I think that is a good idea.

There may well be more advanced queen cells on the deep frames so you need to act quickly or you may lose a swarm. An A/S is really better than making a split, but it depends on your future aspirations as to what to do.

She may well have gone already but you don't want to lose bees from your colony if at all possible. Maybe it's time to shout help (again) to your beekeeping friend?

RAB

 

[markrogers]

rab

thanks for the advice. sorry for being ignorant but what does A/S mean?

i have bought and fabricated another hive for a nuke /swarm .

i don't want to ask my beekeeping friend at the moment as he has more serious matters to attend to at present.

the broken queen cells did appear to have larvae in them that were larger than those in the undamaged cells. there is an eerie quiet about the hive at the moment does that indicate the old queen has gone?

mark

 

[MrB]

rab

thanks for the advice. sorry for being ignorant but what does A/S mean?

A/S is an artificial swarm

Oh, and welcome BTW

 

[Swarm]

Is it pouring with rain there? That would make the hive quiet. With AS or split, you need to find the Queen.

 

[MrB]

With AS or split, you need to find the Queen.

You can A/S without finding the queen

 

[oliver90owner]

With AS or split, you need to find the Queen.

Well, not always - if you have a spare day.

Get all bees (those below the Q/E) into a new box with a brood frame from the original box. Place Q/E over that new box and then the original box over the Q/E.

Next day the old box can be taken away, and continue as per A/S.

Good weather does help to avoid any chilled brood.

RAB

 

[susbees]

i am thinking of starting a nuke with the uncapped queen cells as a precaution. what do you think?


There may well be more advanced queen cells on the deep frames so you need to act quickly or you may lose a swarm. An A/S is really better than making a split, but it depends on your future aspirations as to what to do.

She may well have gone already but you don't want to lose bees from your colony if at all possible. Maybe it's time to shout help (again) to your beekeeping friend?

RAB

There will have been capped QCs if he saw pupae rather than larvae.

 

[susbees]

Is it pouring with rain there? That would make the hive quiet. With AS or split, you need to find the Queen.

On Mark's behalf it's been torrential since dawn Swarm! I have loads to do on the apiary today...

And welcome Mark. If you need a hand mid-week just yell. If the weather stays like this and she hasn't gone you may be lucky. Next warm day there'll be another deluge of swarm calls.

 

[oliver90owner]

Yep, sorry, you are correct. I read the next para and thought they meant the cells were open. Now realise they have misunderstood the book (I am hoping it is them and not the book!) and think that usually all queen cells will be capped before she would go.

OP - she normally goes as soon as the first queen cell is capped. So unless the weather has been foul enough to delay the swarm, she will be long gone.

Regards, RAB

 

[drstitson]

if it were me and it was likely that the hive had swarmed already i would (providing QCs were on different frames) make up a couple of nucs from the hive and then concentrate on getting them built up again.

or buy in a mated queen for the main colony and take off a nuc as backup/for increase.

 

[markrogers]

thank you all for setting out the options. i will try to set up a nuke tomorrow after work as i am off to hear elton john this evening. well at least i'll see one old queen!! ho! ho!

susbees- thanks for the offer. i'll post you if i'm struggling.

mark

 

[susbees]

thank you all for setting out the options. i will try to set up a nuke tomorrow after work as i am off to hear elton john this evening. well at least i'll see one old queen!! ho! ho!

susbees- thanks for the offer. i'll post you if i'm struggling.

mark

No problem. Weather can't surely be worse than this...