Attempted After-swarm 3/8/20
Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 6:14 pm
Red Rambler gave a beekeeper my number since he was out of town when his friend called about his bees swarming again. I'm not sure how many days ago red rambler got the first swarm, but when I got there this afternoon, some bees were clustered about 15 feet up in a tree, but it was clear that they were returning to the hive.
I helped the beekeeper straighten out some issues in his hive, and saw 4+ capped queen cells in the swarm position in his medium super. I also saw a queen in that super. We pulled the medium and started to examine his deep. The queen had moved down. We kept the medium and the deep separated and started a new hive with the medium. Weather will be iffy for getting queens mated for awhile, but if his hive is any indication of others in the area, there will be plenty of drones flying.
I hope this beekeeper will go ahead and look up the Bush Bee Math page like I suggested so that he will have an idea about what should be happening when.
I helped the beekeeper straighten out some issues in his hive, and saw 4+ capped queen cells in the swarm position in his medium super. I also saw a queen in that super. We pulled the medium and started to examine his deep. The queen had moved down. We kept the medium and the deep separated and started a new hive with the medium. Weather will be iffy for getting queens mated for awhile, but if his hive is any indication of others in the area, there will be plenty of drones flying.
I hope this beekeeper will go ahead and look up the Bush Bee Math page like I suggested so that he will have an idea about what should be happening when.