The Cumbrian
Field Bee
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2011
- Messages
- 922
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Cumbria
- Hive Type
- Other
- Number of Hives
- 2
Hi
As the name suggests I am based in the general Lake District area. I kept bees in conjunction with a friend many (many many) years ago but had to give up due to not being able to give time when needed due to work commitments.
Now retired I decided to give it another go. Last week I received a nuc from friends of my daughter - quite a distance away. This was 5 national frames and this years marked queen.
All seemed to go well until I was inspecting them today. There were a number of queen cups and I couldn't find the queen or for that matter any fresh eggs. Still lots of bees and they have plenty of room and still lots of bees so I don't think there has been a swarm/cast.
The question is what to do? As I see it basically two possibilities.
1. Say the girls know best and leave them alone to rear a new queen. Problem if for some reason I have missed the queen I assume they will swarm. (I seem to have forgotten all I ever knew :-(
2. Assume the queen is there and knock down the cells. The risk as I see it is she isn't there and I have the colony go down.
Currently I am not in touch with any local bee keepers wanting to get set up and reminded myself about how things were before rushing off to join the local association.
Any advice. suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
As the name suggests I am based in the general Lake District area. I kept bees in conjunction with a friend many (many many) years ago but had to give up due to not being able to give time when needed due to work commitments.
Now retired I decided to give it another go. Last week I received a nuc from friends of my daughter - quite a distance away. This was 5 national frames and this years marked queen.
All seemed to go well until I was inspecting them today. There were a number of queen cups and I couldn't find the queen or for that matter any fresh eggs. Still lots of bees and they have plenty of room and still lots of bees so I don't think there has been a swarm/cast.
The question is what to do? As I see it basically two possibilities.
1. Say the girls know best and leave them alone to rear a new queen. Problem if for some reason I have missed the queen I assume they will swarm. (I seem to have forgotten all I ever knew :-(
2. Assume the queen is there and knock down the cells. The risk as I see it is she isn't there and I have the colony go down.
Currently I am not in touch with any local bee keepers wanting to get set up and reminded myself about how things were before rushing off to join the local association.
Any advice. suggestions would be greatly appreciated.