Hi All
One of my backyard colonies has just swarmed. I knew something was up when I inspected yesterday. Lots of brood, some uncapped, but no eggs. Unfortunately, after swarming last year my Queen remained unmarked, which made the job of diagnosing what was going on all the harder. Had Queeny already gone, or died (1 year old) ? I found one capped Q cell in a slightly undecided position that alluded to neither swarming nor supercedure. The colony was covering all frames and looked very healthy. I decided to leave it one more day to think and consider my next move, alas, a swarm has just gone, ignoring my lovely nucs which I ran out with, dripped in swarm lure. After last year, I have left them with a super all winter and they're in a 14x12 hive. Made no difference it seems. They've been booming since the warm weather in March. I can't help but think that if this weather pattern continues in the years to come, we should rethink our timings and consider March as the start of the season (for the bees at least) and be more vigilant. Any one else experiencing swarming now?
Location: York
One of my backyard colonies has just swarmed. I knew something was up when I inspected yesterday. Lots of brood, some uncapped, but no eggs. Unfortunately, after swarming last year my Queen remained unmarked, which made the job of diagnosing what was going on all the harder. Had Queeny already gone, or died (1 year old) ? I found one capped Q cell in a slightly undecided position that alluded to neither swarming nor supercedure. The colony was covering all frames and looked very healthy. I decided to leave it one more day to think and consider my next move, alas, a swarm has just gone, ignoring my lovely nucs which I ran out with, dripped in swarm lure. After last year, I have left them with a super all winter and they're in a 14x12 hive. Made no difference it seems. They've been booming since the warm weather in March. I can't help but think that if this weather pattern continues in the years to come, we should rethink our timings and consider March as the start of the season (for the bees at least) and be more vigilant. Any one else experiencing swarming now?
Location: York