- Joined
- Jul 23, 2009
- Messages
- 35,049
- Reaction score
- 15,584
- Location
- Ceredigion
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 13
Hi, I have searched somewhat but nothing seems to quite hit the spot.
I have a new nuc installed four weeks ago. It came on five brood frames all with some stores and a 2009 queen. The first two inspections were largely uneventful.I had a look at it ten days ago and there was now brood on seven frames, mostly capped honey on one frame, one partially drawn frame and two frames largely untouched. The brood was absolutely solid,mostly capped with a few grubs of varying ages and some eggs, so I put on a super thinking I should leave off the QE for three days. When I went to put on the QE I found a queen cup with royal Jelly and a larva. The bees were drawing out the super above the brood quite nicely so I destroyed the queen cup and hoped that more room would sort it. This afternoon, seven days after putting on the QE, I found one queen cup with a larva and royal jelly and five capped queen cells, Two on the bottom of the frame and three by the side bars about half way down. I destroyed the smallest three but the worrying thing is that two were empty, just full of royal jelly. The frames with the remaining two have been marked, and the existing queen artificially swarmed. She is now in a new brood box of foundation with her frame and a frame of honey plus the super on the old site. I will go back tonight to put a feeder on the queenless hive.
Have I missed anything, have I done the right thing,when should I check the hive again?
The good news is that in three weeks of weekly checking I haven't seen any varroa
Thanks for your help.
I have a new nuc installed four weeks ago. It came on five brood frames all with some stores and a 2009 queen. The first two inspections were largely uneventful.I had a look at it ten days ago and there was now brood on seven frames, mostly capped honey on one frame, one partially drawn frame and two frames largely untouched. The brood was absolutely solid,mostly capped with a few grubs of varying ages and some eggs, so I put on a super thinking I should leave off the QE for three days. When I went to put on the QE I found a queen cup with royal Jelly and a larva. The bees were drawing out the super above the brood quite nicely so I destroyed the queen cup and hoped that more room would sort it. This afternoon, seven days after putting on the QE, I found one queen cup with a larva and royal jelly and five capped queen cells, Two on the bottom of the frame and three by the side bars about half way down. I destroyed the smallest three but the worrying thing is that two were empty, just full of royal jelly. The frames with the remaining two have been marked, and the existing queen artificially swarmed. She is now in a new brood box of foundation with her frame and a frame of honey plus the super on the old site. I will go back tonight to put a feeder on the queenless hive.
Have I missed anything, have I done the right thing,when should I check the hive again?
The good news is that in three weeks of weekly checking I haven't seen any varroa
Thanks for your help.