I think I ask the same question over and over. I'm pretty obsessed with keeping my bees in the yard, I guess.
Anyway, I have two colonies, one is twenty frames and a super; one is ten frames and a super. They've both raised a batch or two of drones. They've got room upstairs, but they're backfilling worker comb. I think they're getting ready to get ready to go. They've both got Q-cups built in swarm positions, just a couple each, and I can tell they're prepping/polishing, but I couldn't see if there was an egg or a larvae.
So: y'all who have seen this before. My goals are : > to keep the bees in the yard; > to finish off the supers of honey they've started. Flow is starting to taper off -- I'm seeing quite a bit of washboarding -- but it's not quite over yet. Few weeks left maybe. What might I do, when?