Hello ,
I installed 2 new packages on April 2nd , 2017 .and a 5 frame NUC install on April 12th.
I am giving the bees 1:1 sugar syrup and they are still taking it , about a 1 to 1 1/2 qts a week.
for a quick reference I call them hive 1 and 2 ( package installs ) and hive 3 ( nuc install ).
All hives have 2 deep boxes on them and they all have 9 frames in them with dummy frames making up the 1 and 10 spots. All hives are drawn out 80% on the bottom box and 60 % on top box and they are drawing comb on the remaining frames but not too fast.
NOW I FOUND- in hive 2 are capped swarm cells already along the bottom of several of the top box frames.
And Hive 3 has supercedure cells in the center of the frames in the top box.
Hive 1 and 2 queens are well and I see lots of new larva and eggs and capped brood
Hive 3 -the queen is alive I found her but i do see alot of empty cells in the middle of the box where there used to be capped brood. My guess is they are trying to supercede her due to her not laying as well as she did at the start?
I checker boarded hives 1 and 2 to move the unworked frames one step more to the center
and I am thinking on letting the supercedure take place since the bees know more than me on that one.And I am pulling the sugar feeding in case there is just too much nectar in the chambers and not enough space for the queen to lay .
Thoughts if I am going about this right?
and sorry its so long but i felt i needed to get as many details as I could
I installed 2 new packages on April 2nd , 2017 .and a 5 frame NUC install on April 12th.
I am giving the bees 1:1 sugar syrup and they are still taking it , about a 1 to 1 1/2 qts a week.
for a quick reference I call them hive 1 and 2 ( package installs ) and hive 3 ( nuc install ).
All hives have 2 deep boxes on them and they all have 9 frames in them with dummy frames making up the 1 and 10 spots. All hives are drawn out 80% on the bottom box and 60 % on top box and they are drawing comb on the remaining frames but not too fast.
NOW I FOUND- in hive 2 are capped swarm cells already along the bottom of several of the top box frames.
And Hive 3 has supercedure cells in the center of the frames in the top box.
Hive 1 and 2 queens are well and I see lots of new larva and eggs and capped brood
Hive 3 -the queen is alive I found her but i do see alot of empty cells in the middle of the box where there used to be capped brood. My guess is they are trying to supercede her due to her not laying as well as she did at the start?
I checker boarded hives 1 and 2 to move the unworked frames one step more to the center
and I am thinking on letting the supercedure take place since the bees know more than me on that one.And I am pulling the sugar feeding in case there is just too much nectar in the chambers and not enough space for the queen to lay .
Thoughts if I am going about this right?
and sorry its so long but i felt i needed to get as many details as I could