Hi,
This is my first post.
I split the swarm I caught last year about a week ago as it was quite crowded. I gave them more space and put the old queen and three frames of brood in a new box. I think I should have put some grass in the entrance of the old queens hive to keep a few field bees because all the flying bees went back to the old hive which is still strong. Still I am feeding the 'artificial swarm' and will give them some more brood of the other hive when they have more flying bees of their own. The queen is laying and I am feeding them.
A more immediate problem is the other half of the split. There were already queen cells being built and now there is probably about a dozen queen cells in that box. Some are now capped. I guess that any day soon the queens will start hatching. Should I let nature take it's course and leave them all in there? What will happen if I do that? I don't want to lose swarms!
The box with the queen cells is still strong and bringing in lots of honey.
Cheers