New beekeeper, new hive, new swarm!

[Amelia-bee]

Hi everyone! New beekeeper in need of some help. Did my basic a few years ago and have helped out with other peoples hives before, but two weeks ago got my first colony.

Got a colony from a woman who had become anaphalatic. There were supercedure cells on some frames with eggs in so I presumed the old queen had died/left.

Moved them to my site, checked for queen's cells capped, then once a queen had emerged (hole chewed in the bottom), I closed up for 2 weeks to let her do her thing with mo disruptions.

It's only been10 days in and I had a swarm on a tree next to the hive. Does this mean the old queen hadn't died and has left with half the colony now a new queen has emerged? Was there anything I should have done differently?

I have collected up the swarm and transferred to my second hive.

 

[Beefriendly]

It could be a swarm headed by the old queen or it could be a swarm headed by one the newly emerged virgins.
Only one way to find out.....rehouse it.

Usual advice is to reduce the number of queen cells in a hive as , depending on hive strength you can get several more cast swarms all headed by virgins.

 

[mjt68]

Sounds like they swarmed. Those queen cells were probably swarm cells and you should have done some kind of artificial swarm. No real harm done since you caught the swarm but watch that it doesn't throw cast swarms.

The position of a queen cell on a frame tells you nothing. Welcome to beekeeping, one long learning curve.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The position of a queen cell on a frame tells you nothing.

it's a mantra that keeps being repeated over generations to the detriment of beginners.
In general, if there is more than one queen cell, assume swarming
If there is only one queen cell........
Be aware they might swarm

 

[Amelia-bee]

Did an inspection on the original hive - 2 frames with capped queen cells.

I moved one of the frames with a queen cell into the second hive with the swarm in, is this the right thing to do? Or would they already have a swarm queen and I've messed them up again ??

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Did an inspection on the original hive - 2 frames with capped queen cells.

I moved one of the frames with a queen cell into the second hive with the swarm in, is this the right thing to do? Or would they already have a swarm queen and I've messed them up again ??

there would be a queen with the swarm, take out the QC

 

[mjt68]

it's a mantra that keeps being repeated over generations to the detriment of beginners.
In general, if there is more than one queen cell, assume swarming
If there is only one queen cell........
Be aware they might swarm

I can't believe it is still repeated, anyone with a few years of beek experience knows it's nonsense so why do teachers teach it (surely they have seen enough bees)? Bee-havers' association advice?

 

[enrico]

Did an inspection on the original hive - 2 frames with capped queen cells.

I moved one of the frames with a queen cell into the second hive with the swarm in, is this the right thing to do? Or would they already have a swarm queen and I've messed them up again ??

As JBM says, you will have a queen in that swarm already. Don't worry too much about the mistakes you make. It is a question of remembering what you did wrong for the future. Might be worth seeing if someone can come and do an initial sort out with you.
E