swarm progress?

[Albert Gunther]

My new swarm has been in the six boxes (including 2 deeps) that were stacked in my woodshed for about 6 days.

Should I be seeing eggs and larvae by now?

I did a pretty thorough inspection today looking for brood (in anticipation of reducing the stack to 3-4 boxes before moving them) but all I could find was a ton of bees, a lot of nectar and a pretty good supply of pollen near the bottom.

Should I wait?

Should I add a frame or two of eggs and larvae from another hive just in case there's a queen problem?

Am I right in thinking it's the old queen that goes with the swarm, and that she should be in egg-laying mode pretty quickly?  (There was a lot of good brood comb in that stack of empty boxes.)

--

Albert C. Gunther, Professor
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Wisconsin-Madison
821 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53706

[Paul Zelenski]

It usually is the old queen that goes with the swarm. She does slim down before flying, so it can take a few days for her to get laying. But it usually doesn't take long if they have good comb. Sometimes a swarm will leave with a virgin queen. It can take a bit longer for her to start laying as she needs to go out on her mating flights first. If the bees moved in to these boxes (as opposed to catching the swarm) it is unlikely that they came without a queen. But, not impossible. You could wait another week without hurting anything. Then if there are no eggs, take action. Of course, I always say if you're in doubt about a queen give the hive some eggs. It wouldn't hurt to give them eggs if you wanted to just to see what they do. 

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[BETSY TRUE]

Maybe he shouldn't move them if there's a virgin queen, Paul? She could be on her mating flight. I'd wait until you see eggs, at least, and preferably a queen.

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[Paul Zelenski]

I agree. I'd wait to move them until everything is looking good if possible. If not possible, you can move them by closing them during the night and moving them in the morning (assuming you're moving them to a different location).  It might increase the chance of a failed queen, but not sure how much. 

[Albert Gunther]

Right. I'm going to give them a frame of eggs tomorrow and see what happens. They can stay put for now.

Thanks, as always, for good advice.