I need help

[vvand111]

I went out tonight and my # 2 hive is sounding like a freight train.  I feel like I need to split them tomorrow morning.  There are so many ways to do this but I believe I have to do this early to hopefully stop another swarm.   Worn out but trying to learn. My inclination is to just pick up top 10 deep and put it on another bottom board with all other aspects of new hive and just leave it at that for the morning. ??

[tedh]

Is it queenless?  Queenless hives tend to roar, imagine a bunch of anxious bees.  Yes, you can put the top deep on a bottom board, add an inner cover and outer cover, leaving the queenless deep (whichever one it is) to raise their own queen.  You will want to move it a couple miles.  I believe it's called a "walk away split".  Make sure you have a queen in the hive BEFORE doing this.  Ted

[vvand111]

That's my problem Ted. I really do not know if this hive has a queen or not.  I do recognize the roar.  It is a very stong hive and has swarmed 1 time already.  Wow do I have problems.  Started with 2 hives and already this year have gone up to 9 and now working through combining down to 5.  Learning a lot...    Maybe getting ready to go back up to 6

[tedh]

Hey vvand11, is there a beekeeping group in your area?  The reason I ask is because hooking up with an experianced beekeeper was one of the best things I've done.  If you can find someone who's willing, find out when they inspect their hives and make it a point to be there when they do.  The more often the better.  I ended up with a good friend out of the deal and learned a lot.   Just a thought that would be worth looking into.  Ted

[vvand111]

Good advice  I will follow

[neillsayers]

If you have a frame of eggs in both boxes it doesn't matter which one has the queen. Check back in 10 days and see which has a ripe cell, the other will be the one with a queen.

If you can't find eggs in either box and queen cells are under way, they are in process of requeening themselves. If you make sure queen cell(s) are in both boxes you can still split.

Just be sure to treat queen cells very, very gently.

Hope this helps

[Lburou]

There is no question about it, if they are queenless and you add a frame of brood and eggs, they can make a queen like Ted said.  It will be about 30 days til the new queen starts to lay.

If the sound you hear is a signal they are about to swarm, a frame of brood won't stop the swarming impulse.  You will need to do something to make them think they have already swarmed.  But first, you will have to look inside the hive.  Look for evidence of queen activity...Are there any eggs?  Any larva?  Any capped brood?  Any queen cells?  Once you answer  those questions, you will know if they need that frame of eggs and brood or not.

If you find queen cells you will need to split them into two hives.  Leave two queen cells in one and the queen in the other.  Iddee would try to save most all the queen cells, but that makes it more complicated than it needs to be for you at this time.  Just leave two cells alive, kill or give away the others.  HTH   

[vvand111]

Ok,

I went in.  No queen but sooo many bees. No Larva, no queen cells a reasonable amount of capped brood. Had 8 digging out from their caps as I was looking at frame.  I am thinking I will purchase a queen today and introduce ASAP

[tedh]

Have you tried adding a frame of eggs?  If you do, and they are queenless, they will make queen cells.  If they are not queenless they won't build queen cells.  Easy inexpensive fix.  Ted

[Lburou]

Ok,

I went in.  No queen but sooo many bees. No Larva, no queen cells a reasonable amount of capped brood. Had 8 digging out from their caps as I was looking at frame.  I am thinking I will purchase a queen today and introduce ASAP

A good plan...