Two questions?

[Kris^]

Today was the day to check the packages I hived on Monday.  Doing well, queens released, bringing in pollen, nectar, etc.

My questions relate to two of my other hives.

1.  Hive 3 was a cutdown split that I had to feed additional frames of brood to get viable queen cells (that debacle is chronicled elsewhere).  I saw the queen today, and she looked fine, definitely like a regular queen.  But she was moving around on the frame oddly, skittish in a way -- changing directions quickly, moving quickly, back and forth, like a worker bee would.  Does this indicate she's still a virgin?  She would have emerged within the past 2 or 3 days.

2.  My super strong hive 2 is readying to swarm.  I accidentally destroyed 7 or 8 swarm cells hanging off the frames on the upper super.  There were more swarm cells in the other boxes, not as many though.  I didn't see the queen in the hive, but it was getting intense as I dug through it, and I had to smoke regularly.  I did not notice the swarm cells developing when I inspected last Sunday (and when I last saw the queen), but they were capped and developed today.  There were also several frames of fresh eggs and brood in all stages of development in the brood boxes.  I rearranged the frames in the brood boxes to open up the nest, and took 2 of the surviving swarm cells and put them in 2-frame nucs along with a frame of honey and pollen for each (making sure as best I could that the queen was not on any of the frames I moved).  Because I didn't see the queen, I left one cell that was just forming (not yet fully drawn or capped), in case the queen had already flown the coup.  I plan to check it in the middle of next week.  I also left 2 other swarm cells in there because they got crunched pretty good on the bottom as I sat frames down, but not ripped open like the other accidental destructions.  The hive does not look like it swarmed yet, because it is still overflowing with bees, and they have nearly 8 frames of honey in the 2 supers they are capping.  This took me by surprise today, because I didn't notice any signs of it on Sunday.

Did I do the right thing?  Do you think I may have averted or delayed a swarm?  I have noticed several bees nosing around the bait hive I have set up a few hundred yards away.

Thanks for any further suggestions anyone can give.

-- Kris

[Michael Bush]

>I saw the queen today, and she looked fine, definitely like a regular queen. But she was moving around on the frame oddly, skittish in a way -- changing directions quickly, moving quickly, back and forth, like a worker bee would. Does this indicate she's still a virgin?

Yes.

> She would have emerged within the past 2 or 3 days.

She will not be mated and laying for another ten days.

>and took 2 of the surviving swarm cells and put them in 2-frame nucs along with a frame of honey and pollen for each (making sure as best I could that the queen was not on any of the frames I moved).

I'd be trying to get the old queen in them.  :)  She normally leaves with the swarm.

> Because I didn't see the queen, I left one cell that was just forming (not yet fully drawn or capped), in case the queen had already flown the coup.

Good plan.

>The hive does not look like it swarmed yet, because it is still overflowing with bees

A lot of sucessful hives look that way even AFTER they swarm.

>Did I do the right thing?

Sounds pretty good.  How many frames of brood did you remove?  How many bees?  Does it still look crowded?  You need to seriously deplete the population if you want to convince them they have already swarmed.

> Do you think I may have averted or delayed a swarm?

Maybe.

> I have noticed several bees nosing around the bait hive I have set up a few hundred yards away.

Field bees are always investigating anything that smells like a hive or smells like nasonov.  Scout bees seem much more intent and will actually fly around and walk around inside extensively.  Maybe they will move into your bait hive.  :)