When to be concerned after AS

[beenovice]

I carried out an AS on 16th April. I reduced down to two QC's on 21st.
I collected a swarm from near by on 2nd may.
I have had a quick look today. No sign of HM or eggs, although the cells were polished. The hive was very low on stores, although there was quite a bit of pollen.
My question is when should I get concerned about them being queenless?
I have put a block of fondant on because I had some with me. Should I change this for syrup?

 

[REDWOOD]

I would give it another week and if no eggs seen borrow a frame of eggs

 

[oliver90owner]

Concerned with which? The A/S parent colony or the swarm?

My question is when should I get concerned about them being queenless?

Which one and why would they be queenless? Swarms don't go without a queen. If you collected them
properly, you would know they had the queen present, shirley?

Your A/S parent colony had how many queen cells left?

Your problem is more likely whether she (or they) will get mated.

I have put a block of fondant on because I had some with me. Should I change this for syrup?

Which, or both? Do they actually need feeding? Observation is everything. That is all of what is in the hive, the weather and the flow. Feed if you are unable to make a decision and they are short of stores. No open brood will markedly reduce the amount of stores back-up needed.

Asking about two or more colonies at the same time is unhelpful unless clarification is clear.

 

[beenovice]

Concerned with which? The A/S parent colony or the swarm?

Why would I think the swarm is queenless? I mention the swarm because the timing of it. The AS (brood half) was reduced to two queen cells on the 21st. It is my opinion that leaving the 2 queen cells has caused the brood half to swarm on the 02nd May. It is this box that I am concerned about.

Which one and why would they be queenless? Swarms don't go without a queen. If you collected them
properly, you would know they had the queen present, shirley?

I am not talking about the swarm! It buggered off after I collected it anyway. and don't call me Shirley!

Your A/S parent colony had how many queen cells left?

2 queen cells were left

I have put a block of fondant on because I had some with me. Should I change this for syrup?

Which, or both? Do they actually need feeding? Observation is everything. That is all of what is in the hive, the weather and the flow. Feed if you are unable to make a decision and they are short of stores. No open brood will markedly reduce the amount of stores back-up needed.

I have put fondant on the brood half. They had no visible stores, only pollen. Each frame was extremely light. I made the call, and fed them.

Asking about two or more colonies at the same time is unhelpful unless clarification is clear.

I wasn't asking about two colonies!

 

[oliver90owner]

carried out an AS on 16th April. I reduced down to two QC's on 21st.
I collected a swarm from near by on 2nd may. ..... etc.

Sorry, but I am not clairvoyant.

 

[richardbees]

I carried out an AS on 16th April. I reduced down to two QC's on 21st.

I would have reduced to 1 sealed QC on 21st however your first sign of a successful Q will be seeing eggs - which could be up to 4 weeks of the Q cell hatching.

Mentioning the swarm is confusing the issue!

richard

 

[BeeJayBee]

In all fairness, your first post talks about a colony that was artificially swarmed and also says you collected a swarm, which would suggest you have 3 boxes containing bees - the Q+ part of the AS, the Q- part of the AS, and the stray swarm.

If you're asking about the Q- part, that you left with two queen cells, then she (they) should have emerged about the time you found the swarm, so it's possible that the swarm contains a virgin and you also have a virgin in that brood box. She (they) may mate from around ten days after emerging, but it's weather dependent and can take as long as 3 weeks, then it's a week or so before she is ready to start laying. (There will be a chart in one of your books, best to check it for timings.)

You could test for queenlessness by using a frame containing eggs from another colony. If they make a queen cell you can be fairly certain there is no queen. If they don't, and time is passing, you should try again and again until they either make a queen cell or you see freshly laid eggs.

If any of these colonies is low on stores it's best to feed them, especially as the rain is keeping them from foraging. Fondant is better than nothing, but it's more usual to feed 1:1 syrup for wax building and colony build-up. They need to be able to eat it, not store it, and without the need to fetch water to dilute it.

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

Hi Bee Novice,
is it the swarm that you have done an AS. on?
or do you now have 2 colonies and a Nuc.?
Sometimes we write down things as we think them and it looks as if this might be what you did. Adding the swarm collection date by way of explanation, after the statement about the AS.
I often edit my posts after reading them once posted.