Did I prevent a swarm?

[Wandering Man]

Or am I just meddling when I should be leaving well enough alone?

We'd tried a split, one hive ended up queenless.

We recombined the split into a single hive.

We checked on the hive yesterday, and couldn't find the marked queen. Instead, we saw two empty queen cells, and twio capped queen cells. There was some brood, but I didn't see any eggs.

I called around, and was able to order a new queen that I'll pick up tomorrow evening.

Back into the hive to kill any queen cells that we find.

And there was the queen, running and hiding.

The queen cell had a live pupa. So, we split the hive again. An easy split, since both brood boxes had brood and stores.

The new queen goes in the queenless hive on Friday. Hopefully, the bees will think they've swarmed.

Or maybe it was meant to be a supercedure, and the existing queen is fading fast.

So many unknowns for us newbees. It is so easy to second guess and even third guess ourselves.

BTW, just because I didn't see any eggs, doesn't mean they weren't there.

[vvand111]

I totally agree on the aspect of being Newbee.  I have learned so much in the beginning of my 2ed year. I am happy to have healthy hives that r prospering thank to so much advice I have received on this sight.

As a fellow rookie I would say patience     Let things unfold for 10 to 12 days. It is hard. It is what I am going through as well right now.  I will know more about my bees by this weekend by giving them time to do what they need to do and doing my best to read the signs of what is happening or not happening.

[vvand111]

I think you did the best and probably the right thing.  Similar to several of my situations.

I will be interested in what others may say.

[neillsayers]

WM,

Last spring I split a hive and made sure it had a couple of capped swarm cells in it. Checked a week later and couldn't find queen or eggs. I freaked and ordered a queen. She got here a few days later. Hung the cage, let the bees release her, etc.. Went back in a week after she had been released looking for her eggs and found the most beautiful combs of capped brood you ever saw. Clearly the original queen had been at work all along and murdered my bought queen as soon as she could. AARRRGGGHHH!

Taught me a lot about patience and really looking for those pesky little eggs!

[Perry]

vvand111 and neillsayers both make an excellent point = Patience!
Virgin queens are notoriously hard to spot, they are nervous, scurrying to find cover, will often hide on the side of a box, etc. and they are not often a whole lot bigger than a regular worker bee. The demeanor of the hive should tell you if you have one or not. If the hive is noisy, with a noticeable "roar" when you open it up, there may not be a queen. If the bees are calm and quiet, gently going about their work, things are as they should be.

[Wandering Man]

Virgin queens are notoriously hard to spot, they are nervous, scurrying to find cover, will often hide on the side of a box, etc. and they are not often a whole lot bigger than a regular worker bee.

Well ........

It was our Marked Queen that we didn't see!

 

[Jen]

  Learning more and more about queens, and all of this is great info especially this time of year.

Wman, questions like these are such learning tools for all of us. 8 years for me and beekeeping. Each year I think I'm getting it down pretty good, and then the bee throw another curve at me.

[Wandering Man]

3Reds and I picked up our queen at the Coastal Bend Beekeepers Association meeting last night, courtesy of Gretchen Bee Ranch out of Seguin, Texas.

We double checked the hive this morning and saw no signs of a queen or queen cells.  We laid the queen in her cage on top of the hive to watch the bees reaction.  The came up to her calmly, and began grooming her.  No frantic activity or swarming of her.  So we judged the hive to be appropriately queenless. 

We placed the queen in her plastic cage between two frames of brood, and put everything back together.  All but two of the grumpy bees that had been in my face left, the bees calmed quickly.  I think we've done the right thing. 

3Reds and I are heading out of town a week from today.  We are currently debating whether to open the hive Thursday to see if she's been released, or just waiting until we get back.  If we wait, it will be 17 or 18 days before we check on her.

[Wandering Man]

While at the meeting I met a man with some second year queens for sale that he got from a friend who is a commercial beek that requeens every year.  I invited him to come to our organizational meeting for the Victoria Beeks on Monday, as we may have some folk needing a new queen.  He's not sure if he'll show up.

But, as a gesture of good will, he gave me a queen to give away as a door prize. 

Beeks are the friendliest people around!

Now, if I can just manage to keep the give-away queen alive until Monday.

[Lburou]

I would check before you go on the trip.  Make sure she is released.

[Wandering Man]

I would check before you go on the trip.  Make sure she is released.

Thanks.

I guess if she is not released, we'll escort her out of the cage.

If she's dead in the cage, try to combine the two hives again?

If she's out of the cage, we'll hunt for her, but obviously our queen spotting skills are sorely lacking.  This one is not marked! 

If we find her, our intention is to mark her.  I've got some cool toys to do the marking with. 

[neillsayers]

WM,

If she's released, I'd just let her be for a couple weeks, then look for her and eggs.

[riverbee]

wm..........

like lee said, check to see she is released before your trip.........if she is out of the cage, like neill said...let her be.  don't hunt for her, let the hive alone, don't mess with trying to find her and mark her until you return, just let the hive alone.

[Riverrat]

I had an over wintered nuc throw a swarm friday.  I was amazed that I had overwintered the nuc in a single deep box and figured it would take awhile to build up.  Wrong I got the swarm on video  Talked to another guy and he has picked up 4 swarms already this year so they are swarming early in our part of the country

[neillsayers]

RR,

Did you catch it?

[Riverrat]

RR,

Did you catch it?

yep hived up and happily in their new home