Very confusing inspection

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fullframe45

House Bee
Joined
May 13, 2019
Messages
167
Reaction score
38
Location
lancashire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
4 --5.
just checked a DB poly hive with 3 supers on after i did not see any activity on the entrance.While the rest of the hives were all busy.
This hive was inspected 4 days previously and was very busy and going wellThey had room and space in the supers and with my limited knowledge no sighn of swarming. I needed to move it propably 4/5 foot and kept the entrance the same way. Bees not happy but i had to do it for reasons i wont go into now.
On inspection today their numbers were reduced a fair ammount and down to 6 frames in brood box (bottom one )lots of eggs mainly lying down or leaning , quite a lot of lava and five frames of brood some very new and golden in colour.But no sighn of Q cells or Cups anywhere .Or the Q .could my moving the hive disturb them and trigered a swarm .She was not clipped and marked so white so im sure i would have seen her.
Will i just have to wait till they start making another Q and let em get on with it or is there another option. Thank you.
 
If something happened to queen 4 days ago there will be EQCs. You say you didn’t spot any. Did you shake the bees off the frames?
 
No i didnt shake the frames but went over them carefully and slowly a couple of times and due to not being a huge ammount of bees on the frames and with it being DB i thought all looked fine.You have given me something to think about now.I will be going through the other hives tomorrow and will be more thorough.Thank you
 
Egg
On inspection today their numbers were reduced a fair ammount and down to 6 frames in brood box (bottom one )lots of eggs mainly lying down or leaning

Egg period lasts 3 days. It does not tell much if they are" mainly slanting ".

The swarm has left quite recently. But not 4 days ago.
 
Yesterday i asked a question regarding swarming on a DB and quite rightly Erichalfbee asked if i had shook the frames. Im afraid i did not but just gave them a close inspection due to the frames not exactly stuffed with bees and in a in a DB. I will remember that next time.
Anyway today i went in and my intentions were to do just that,But third frame in i saw the Q .I put her to oneside and then shook all the frames but no sighn of cells anywhere. Hmmm.
The bees are definatly very much reduced in numbers so still thinking along the lines of a swarm. Is it possible that there was also another Q in there and she has gone off with the bulk of the bees. Sorry for being long winded with this. Thank you.
 
I found a hive swarming last year and one of the first things I found after an emerged cell was the queen and then a few cells on the point of emerging. By the time I sorted them out, the swarm had returned.
Did she look OK?
 
Steve ,she looked fine just walking around on a frame ,Marked her myself last year and this hive was very productive by my standards. But why no sighn of Cells that is what confuses me. I admit i am a slow learner .thank you
 
Thank you for that and yes there was a hive within three foot of its original location that was my reason for moving it you may have solved the problem.The hive close to it does have reduced numbers but it has been very slow this spring so have not been inspecting it as regular as the others. That is my next move. Thank you.
 
This learning curve is getting steeper everyday.LOL Thank you
 
Thank you for that and yes there was a hive within three foot of its original location that was my reason for moving it you may have solved the problem.The hive close to it does have reduced numbers but it has been very slow this spring so have not been inspecting it as regular as the others. That is my next move. Thank you.
bet you it has a few more bees now, the flying bees came back to find their home gone so begged their way into a hive only a few feet away
 
Everytime i visit my hives the day before i write a list of why i am inspecting and what i am going to do and try to plan various senarioes about what If and how to Fix it if this and that happens . .Im just wasting writing paper cause it all goes out of the window first hive i inspect. This site is a lifesaver for me. Thank you.
 
In your OP you say you moved the hive 4-5 feet. Was there another hive close to original position to which the foragers returned, thus reducing numbers in this hive you are concerned about?
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Keep up JBM.:)
 
In your OP you say you moved the hive 4-5 feet. Was there another hive close to original position to which the foragers returned, thus reducing numbers in this hive you are concerned about?

Keep up JBM.:)
[/QUOTE]
I actually sent the post the evening before it actually appeared on the thread - don't know what happened there
 

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