Swarm today

[Bsummitkeeper]

I got all four of my hives through the winter and one came through very strong. 3 weeks ago it was as full of bees as I'd ever seen along with tons ready to emerge. Experience told me that even though I had no swarm cells they were going to head in that direction as soon as they got a chance. I pulled a split with the old queen and 5 frames of brood which were covered in bees and added a couple frames of honey I had in the refrigerator along with three frames of drawn comb. That split is doing well and got a second deep of foundation added today.

I left plenty of larva, eggs, and brood in the original hive and added 5 frames of foundation which they quickly drew out. I knew I'd have to watch it close in case the drones weren't ready to mate. Last week I found a couple queen cells so I knew we were heading in the right direction. I figured if I didn't get a new queen, I'd reintroduce the old queen and let the split try and make a new one.

Today was the day to check and see if I had a laying queen in the original strong hive and about the time I had everything together and started toward the hives I saw the sickening sight that they were swarming which irritated the heck out of me. Ive got the swarm in a new box and will move it to its new home tonight. I decided to give the original hive a rest today but will go dig into it in a few days and see what's left in there. The whole deal seems a little strange to me. I know for a fact that the old queen was removed because I marked her last year and she's clearly in my original split. I assume two queens emerged around the same time and half decided to go. If Presented with this deal again that early in the year I believe I'll split the entire hive into two instead of pulling 5 frames.

Sorry so long but I don't know how to tell a short story.

[Jacobs]

Another possibility is that you had the marked queen and her daughter overwinter in your original hive. You saw the marked queen and moved her, but they still had a mated queen to swarm with. It is not common, but mother and daughter queens working together happen more often than we think.

The good news is you have your marked queen, another swarm, and the original hive.

[Bsummitkeeper]

Ive read about two queens in a hive but hadn't thought of it in this case. Guess I'll never really know.

Started with two packages two years ago thinking I'd have 4 one day. Two years later I've got 6 and it's still early this year. We'll see where it goes.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Wally]

Look for another swarm from it Sat. or Sun. if you don't pull some queen cells and make more splits.

[Bsummitkeeper]

That's what I'm afraid of. I went out just before dark and peaked in the top and there still a large population so I guess there's a solid chance of a second swarm and four week hives that produce no honey. I threw a couple honey supers with drawn comb on top but know if the stage is set their going to act.

I'll go in tomorrow and see what i can accomplish.