Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: watercarving on May 12, 2009, 05:46:41 pm
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Came home and my hive had swarmed again. This is one week to the day after this same hive produced a 4-5 pound swarm. This batch was about 3 pounds. I captured and hived it and they seem to like their new accommodations. The hive they swarmed from has tons of bees flying.
Can this be good? Do I need to do anything? Do I have a virgin queen in this new swarm and one in the producing hive? What do I need to look for in case I need to requeen?
I was hoping for some honey this year but I have quickly went from 2 to 4 hives in 7 days. Not too bad either.
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Came home and my hive had swarmed again. This is one week to the day after this same hive produced a 4-5 pound swarm. This batch was about 3 pounds. I captured and hived it and they seem to like their new accommodations. The hive they swarmed from has tons of bees flying.
After swarms are quite common, although most aren't in the 3 lb catagory. Sounds like a boomer hive. How often have you supered it? How long prior to the swarm and the time before that? The time before that supering will give a better indication of hive condition (crowding, etc).
Can this be good? Do I need to do anything? Do I have a virgin queen in this new swarm and one in the producing hive? What do I need to look for in case I need to requeen?
I wouldn't requeen if the virgin queen left in the parent hive gets lost or killed, just recombine with one of the swarms using the newspaper methd. A 3 lb swarm is slways good this time of year, the 4-5 swarm was better but 3 lbs is more the norm. I would recommend checking thoroughly for anymore queen cells and remove them to nucs, if found, in order to not deplete the hives resources any further.
I was hoping for some honey this year but I have quickly went from 2 to 4 hives in 7 days. Not too bad either.
You may still get some honey, maybe even more than you were expecting from 2 hives.
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I dont see nothing to add after Brians post
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It's a TTBH so I hadn't supered. It wasn't even full. They had about 18 frames drawn out and I had about 22 in there. Should I make more room? Will do on the queen cells.