Hive swarmed

[TheFuzz]

I checked up on some hives three weeks ago. They were quite full of honey, I didn't have any spare boxs on me and I noticed they were low on space. One hive had two supers, one deep and one medium.

Anyway, just this weekend I went back to these hives, to do a honey extraction and provide another super. Unfortunately, the hive had been abanboned, it was full of wax moth which had done a suprising amount of damage during this time.

I can't recall if I checked the brood chamber for queen activity. It's shocking to me that I had a good strong healthy hive, then not even a few weeks later the hive swarmed. Could me visiting the hive, opening it up trigger them to swarm? Maybe they were already planning on doing so because the queen didn't have enough space for eggs?

[ifixoldhouses]

IF they swarmed they would have left queen cells and bees, sounds like they absconded for some reason, no mites there, so something bothered them enough to leave.imo

[TheFuzz]

I used the wrong word, I meant to say they absconded, not swarmed. There's no dead bees. Just this one hive is empty, two beside it are full and active with laying queen. This hive has been there for about a year now.

Should I really be checking the brood chamber every time I open a hive to see if eggs are being laid? There would have been less guess work if I did so. Maybe I did open it and check and I just forgot, I probably need to start writing these things down because my memory is awful.

[Redline]

I used the wrong word, I meant to say they absconded, not swarmed. There's no dead bees. Just this one hive is empty, two beside it are full and active with laying queen. This hive has been there for about a year now.

Should I really be checking the brood chamber every time I open a hive to see if eggs are being laid? There would have been less guess work if I did so. Maybe I did open it and check and I just forgot, I probably need to start writing these things down because my memory is awful.

yep you should be making sure its queenright every two weeks at a max

[kanga]

How often you check the brood is dependant on your seasonal management, you would not be opening up the brood and removing frames during winter. Your seasonal management coming in to winter would be a through check of the brood and checking for any brood disease. You would also be noting as to what stores they have and if you might have to feed etc. Unless there is a problem you would not be opening up the brood until it starts to warm up probably around August September.  On a warm day (you do not want to chill the brood) you would then do a check of brood looking for any disease, has the queen got plenty of room, do I need to be concerned re swarming. Generally speaking from then until the end December you would then need to be regularly checking, depending on any flows in your area , at least every two weeks. Generally from January through until it is time to do your pre winter checks you do not need to be opening the hive as often unless you note a problem. Just remember bees do not read the rule books so this information is very generalised.

Regular checks of the entrance will tell you a lot re the condition of the bees.

Remember every time you remove frames of brood for inspection you risk rolling the queen. Kevin