Swarm central

[Lori Wroble]

Hi, I am a relatively new beekeeper- I took the 2019 BABA bee school.  My first hive started in Spring of 2020 and they did great over the winter.  So we’ll that I have already harvested some spring honey.  Unfortunately I thought I gave them enough growing room, but missed them making new queen cells.  May 23rd I witnessed their first swarm but they grouped in a very tall tree and by the time I had the correct equipment they were gone and I lost them.  The next swarm on May 28th was witnessed by my neighbor and they stayed put long enough for me to get home and catch them. I could not see a queen in the original hive and was afraid to remove the queen cell because I knew they needed a queen- but they had a 3rd witnessed swarm on June 2nd and again I was able to get down from Boston (to Dartmouth) and catch that swarm too.  All 3 hives have a lot of bee activity but only the 1st swam box has capped brood, eggs and larva seen on inspection 6/18.  I could not find the queens in original hive (no more queen cells) or the 2nd swarm box.  I have read that it can take up to 3 weeks for the queen to mature and mate and start laying eggs- if they don’t appear should I re-queen with a purchased queen or try and combine the hives again with the newspaper between the boxes trick?  Thanks to anyone who might have advise.

[Mark Lewis]

Lori,

Either alternative should work but I tend to find that bees work out their own multiplication situation. Sometimes requires patience from us. 3 weeks is more like a minimum depending on when exactly you're starting the clock. If you decide to combine, need to look closely to make sure there's no virgin queen running around in there. 

--mark

(sent from a phone)

On Jun 20, 2021, at 5:48 PM, Lori Wroble <lorian...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, I am a relatively new beekeeper- I took the 2019 BABA bee school.  My first hive started in Spring of 2020 and they did great over the winter.  So we’ll that I have already harvested some spring honey.  Unfortunately I thought I gave them enough growing room, but missed them making new queen cells.  May 23rd I witnessed their first swarm but they grouped in a very tall tree and by the time I had the correct equipment they were gone and I lost them.  The next swarm on May 28th was witnessed by my neighbor and they stayed put long enough for me to get home and catch them. I could not see a queen in the original hive and was afraid to remove the queen cell because I knew they needed a queen- but they had a 3rd witnessed swarm on June 2nd and again I was able to get down from Boston (to Dartmouth) and catch that swarm too.  All 3 hives have a lot of bee activity but only the 1st swam box has capped brood, eggs and larva seen on inspection 6/18.  I could not find the queens in original hive (no more queen cells) or the 2nd swarm box.  I have read that it can take up to 3 weeks for the queen to mature and mate and start laying eggs- if they don’t appear should I re-queen with a purchased queen or try and combine the hives again with the newspaper between the boxes trick?  Thanks to anyone who might have advise.

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