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  • From: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • To: Julie Daniels <jld921 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] multi-swarm-recovery-plan needed
  • Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2017 22:33:50 -0400

Julie,
I hope others will chime in as well, but based on your email I would combine the Hive D with Hive B because you know that B can use the workers and B has a viable queen.

I would assume that A has a queen in the works. If they just swarmed last Saturday it is too early to see eggs. The new queen would barely be born and would still be a virgin. Read Randall's article "I Need to Buy a Queen . . . or do I" at https://www.baileybeesupply.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/i_need_to_buy_a_queen.pdf and work through the number of days required to make a queen, get her mated, and get her laying. It will make you feel better about  Hive A. Queen events (swarms, supersedure, accidental death, old age, etc.) will try your patience, but most of the time the bees have it all under control.

Hive C may be another story. You found what appeared to be an ailing queen. Hive C may have a virgin queen that flew with the swarm and has yet to be mated. I would give it at least 7-8 days to see if there is evidence of a queen at that time. If not, I would add a frame of eggs and brood from B to let the bees start making one. 

Finally you have Hive B with a productive queen. If your patience is not ultimately rewarded with a new queen for Hive A you can take another frame of eggs and brood from B and allow the bees in Hive A to make a new queen. I suspect that won't be necessary.

-John

John Rintoul
(919) 414-4071
No trees or bees were killed in the distribution of this message, but countless electrons were seriously inconvenienced.

On Apr 9, 2017, at 8:50 PM, Julie Daniels <jld921 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Hello.  I have tried to describe my question succinctly, but it involves multiple hives, so it is a bit convoluted (and wordy):

Last Saturday, my large 2016 hive (hive A) swarmed.  It was a huge swarm, but the hive was large/overpopulated.  We caught the swarm and started a new hive (hive C).  We found the 2016 marked queen on the ground and scooped her up to the lip of the hive, then watched attendants usher her in, she looked okay - but a bit slow.  I've fed all week. Upon inspection of new hive C yesterday, they have drawn comb and collected nectar, but no signs of the queen or eggs.

When inspecting old hive A yesterday, I saw multiple queen cups in the center of the frame (one open, a couple closed, and one cracked with visible larvae.  Still fairly large population. Tons of capped brood. No visible eggs.  Bees were grumpy.  I didn't see a new queen, but didn't look hard.  

Today, a smaller swarm occurred. We collected it and put it in a new box (hive D). Unfortunately, I think I stepped on the new queen.  I'm not completely sure she was the queen, but we put the potential queen on the lip of the hive and attendants were very interested in her for a while (like they were trying to revive her), then kicked the corpse off the lip.  (hard to tell for sure if she was a queen).  I am not certain which hive this swarm came from, but I suspect A.  

The last hive in my yard is Hive B:  6 weeks old, made from a split, and has a working queen and brood, but is still smallish.

I'm trying to consider the best next steps for hives A,C,D. 
Question 1.  Because D is not large, and I don't really want 4 hives to monitor, I could combine it with another small hive.  
My options to add Hive D to:
Hive A.  Given D may not have a queen, could it go back to the original hive (I think it was from A)? This is the largest hive, but has sufficient space now. or if it came from there, would they just leave again?  And not for sure on A's queen status.
Hive C.  The new hive from last week's swarm could be strengthened if combined with new smaller swarm (C+D).  Not sure of C's queen status given I did not see queen/eggs yesterday.
Hive B.  I know it has a queen, but is still smallish.  Because the queen status is known, might this be a safer route?

I assume I would need to do the newspaper trick for any of these.  

Question 2. I'm concerned that I did not see the 2016 queen (or eggs) in Hive C (after 1 week).  She laid consistently in her former hive.  I worry she died, even though we saw her enter the hive with the swarm capture.  Can I wait another week to look for signs of eggs, or should I go ahead and buy a queen now? 

Sorry this was so wordy.  Any advice will be appreciated.
Julie

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