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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Lewis Cauble <lewis AT hivebody.com>
  • To: Stacy Crabill <stacycrabill AT gmail.com>, ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Swarmed Hive Advice
  • Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 12:09:56 -0400 (EDT)

Give it more time.  The very earliest that you would see eggs would be right around now.  Sit on your hands for at least 10 more days.  You might call around to queen producers and say something like, "I might need a queen on Aug 1 if things do not play out.  Can I call you on July 30th if it looks like I need one on the 1st?"
 
I like to use this calendar designed for queen rearing to determine when I might start looking for eggs and determine when the drop dead date is (no eggs at that point means there will not ever be any eggs without intervention). Here I have set up the calendar so that the cell is capped on July 2, now you can see what to expect (the bees tend to swarm about the time the cell is capped).  Your drop dead date is about August 3.
 
If the box is full of bees and resources, I believe you will be perfectly fine to over winter, assuming they have good stores, good population of bees, and low varroa pressure in mid to late September.
 
Lewis
 

On July 17, 2014 at 5:30 PM Stacy Crabill <stacycrabill AT gmail.com> wrote:
I am a new beekeeper, and installed my first package of bees in the spring. All was well, and my hive appeared to be strong... perhaps too strong. They swarmed on July 2nd. I have waited patiently in hopes that the remaining bees would raise their own queen (saw several queen cells after the swarm), but after a thorough inspection today, 15 days post swarm, there is no evidence of brood, eggs or a queen. Just lots of bees, pollen and honey in my two 10 frame deeps.

If I were able to find and purchase a new queen, is it too late in the season for the bees to make it through the winter? If so, resources for a queen? Other ideas?
 Any suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! 
Thanks,
Stacy Crabill
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