gone2seagirl Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Hi all, we have a bee haus with a nuc that we bought about 7 weeks ago. They were on 5 frames with a carnoilian queen. We increased the number of frames to 15 and put on a super. They filled 11 frames. Last week they swarmed. We ordered a new queen which is in place, in a box. On sunday one of our neigbours found a swarm so we've caught it and put it into one side of the beehaus and restricted our original colony to 11 frames, 2 of which were just foundation. It now looks as though our original hive is trying to swarm again, there are lots of bees flying around the enterance and gathering on the side of the beehaus. We've put a wet sheet over the hive and smoked them and this seems to be reducing the number of bees flying. Is there anything that we can do to stop them from swarming now Any advice would be greatly appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 I am not an experienced beekeeper by any means, but I think if they are going to swarm then there isn't much you can do to stop them at this stage. Have you seen any queen cells on inspection? Why did you order a new queen - were you certain that there was no queen left in the hive after the swarm? I think this probably needs input from someone with more experience than me, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8landy Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 Olly has asked so good questions that need answers from the OP to help more. Firstly, queen cells do not forum over night, so how often are you doing your inspecions? Even if you had been away for even 2 weeks, yes you have lost the swarm, but there will be other queen cells in that hive that need resolving or you will loose more casts (bees/queens). Buying in a new queen is unlike to help you! You need to takle the root cause. When you say you put on a super, are you simpley refering to one section of a supper i.e 6 frame? or 2 boxes? I suspect that you needed to add more supers if that was the case. On the up shot, (fingers crossed) the main (true) swarming season is bassicaly over, but that does not rule out supersedure. The bees flying around an entrace can be normal, hard to know how many is many from you post. And yes, even bees just hanging around a hive entrace on mass doen not mean a swarm. Hard things to read these bees, but it is possible with out opening the hive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone2seagirl Posted June 23, 2010 Author Share Posted June 23, 2010 With regards to suppers and space. We have for over 3 weeks 10 supper frames on the hive. Once we got to the point were 7 out of 10 broodframes were drawn out, and added an extra brood frame was well But the bees have basically left them untouched. We now removed the queen excluders to see if this will help them move in to the suppers. We just opened up the hive for inspection, queen cage once empty, queen was not seen. But again Suppers were still untouched with very little bees in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8landy Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 So allthough you added suppers, the bees did not use them! removing the QX will help now, also maybe spray a 1:1 suagr water solution on the untouched super frames to encorage them onto the foundation. You say you have just done an inspection, but when was you last one, and previously to that how frequently do you inspect? As I said queen cells do not apprear and hatch over night. Also as I said, I assume you have found queen cells? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone2seagirl Posted June 23, 2010 Author Share Posted June 23, 2010 With regards to inspecting, we do it weekly, but it appears that we've missed a few . Think that in future we'll take a bit longer in our inspections. With regards to the supers, we have 10 frames on. At the moment there is a big cluster of bees hanging from the mesh floor of the beehaus, we're not sure if they have fully swarmed or are just thinking about it. We did find some queen cells when we have inspected, but have now squashed them all in the hope that the bees will now return into the hive. We had read that bees don't tend to swarm in the first year, so we were a bit surprised when it happened the first time. We're now wondering if it could be to do with the location and the weather. They get lots of sun so maybe they are overheating, there doesn't seem to be too many at the enterance fanning though! Thanks for all the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8landy Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 We had read that bees don't tend to swarm in the first year, You see there is the problem! You read the other book, the bees read the book that says they can do what they want! Also just squashing queen cells is like closing the stable door after the house has bolted. They are saying that they will swarm and possibley allready have. With regards to inspecting, we do it weekly, but it appears that we've missed a few Is that you missed a few inspections or queen cells? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted June 23, 2010 Share Posted June 23, 2010 i have to agree with v8landy. If the queen cells were capped the swam probably has already gone. I started with a nuc this year and mine have not swarmed but a friend 2 miles away has lost 3 swarms from 3 nucs picked up from the same supplier on the same day. i have decided that the bees write the books and change how act to get repeat sales on next years books! good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
