As noted in an earlier post I installed (2) packages on May 21. On May 25 checked hives and both queens had been released, so I removed cages and closed up.
In an earlier thread I had questioned OA treatment while broodless. I treated hives on May 28th - OAV. I believe OA dribble was discussed but weather here had been so wet during the period I didn't want to risk opening hives and adding insult to injury with a deluge. Not to miss the broodless period I went with OAV since that did not require hive opening.
I inspected for first time this past Saturday June 2 and here's a summary of what I found:
Hive 1 had approx 3.5/4 frames of bees, 1 frame with capped brood on both sides - a good pattern, but not big as it only covered the center of the frame maybe 4" deep by 6 long. Some capped honey/nectar/sugar and a lot of uncapped nectar. There was no sign of eggs or larvae. but there were 5 capped queen cells. I'm assuming, for whatever reason, that this queen is gone. With the cells being capped, I have left well enough alone and hopefully a new queen will emerge, mate successfully and return. This was also the recommendation from a fellow beekeeper - to let nature take its course.
Hive 2 - the weaker of the two hives with maybe 2 1/2 3 frames of bees, plenty of uncapped nectar/sugar and some capped. There were larvae seen, very scattered capped brood - across 2 frames, but no signs of eggs. At least I didn't see any. I did find / see the queen in this hive, but based on observation wondered if she's performing up to par. There was also (1) capped queen cell on the lower end of a foundationless piece of comb that had been built out approx 1/2 way down the frame. Could the girls be planning a replacement base on the existing queens performance. Surely they wouldn't consider swarming with such low numbers - would they? There isn't a space crunch and there's also drawn comb available for laying.
I have not been back into the hives since 6/2 other than lift cover to check syrup levels and had not planned to until this weekend. I wanted to give the existing queen a chance to pick up her game. As for Hive 1 with all the emergency queen cells should I go in so soon, or would this possibly interfere with the replacement process?
I have been feeding 1:1 since installation and girls have been bringing pollen in
I can purchase replacement queens if needed as there are some currently available, but wanted to avoid the expense if possible.
Thanks all -
Warren
