I’m new to beekeeping and have some questions this is my second nuc of bees I have had the first nuc I got they never did expand out comb to more frames the second nuc is doing really well I have my second brood box on what I did not find out when I got my second nuc is if they had been treated for vero mites or not so I’m not sure if I need to treat them or not for the mite disease ants is the other thing we have a huge problem with keeping at bay for the honey bees if u have any suggestions or ideas on how to keep ants at bay for the honeybees that would b helpful
In response to the ant prevention question: If you have a flow hive 2 or 2+ you could just purchase an ant guard from the flow website or if you use normal langstroth hives (or don’t want to purchase) you could put a plastic bowl/small container filled with oil or water under the hives legs (you will need 4) as DIY ant guards.
Hello, my bees built out most of the 10-frame box, so I added a new 10 frame flow hive broad box 3 weeks ago. However the bees have now filled the first box and couple of weeks ago and have built comb between the frames of the two boxes on top of the bottom frames and on the bottom of the top box. However, they have not built any comb in the frames of the new box, and it has been three weeks. Today I found a number of new queen cells on the bottoms of several frames and removed them. One queen cell was a little higher towards the middle of the frame, so I left it. There are a lot of bees in the bottom box. What advice or suggestions can you give me?
Hi Jerry, welcome to the forum.
Are the frames in the second brood box foundationless? I’m not sure if that makes any difference, Anyway… with my thinking cap on, I’m wondering if the queen cells are emergency queen cells. If not, the colony could be getting ready to swarm. In that case, you’d need to remove all the queen cells if you’re trying to prevent the colony from swarming.
What you could try after removing all the queen cells (assuming they are swarm cells & not emergency cells) is to place 3 brood frames in the middle of the 2nd brood box, flanked by empty frames. Then replace them with empty frames in a checkerboard fashion. Then check on them every few days to see if they stop building more queen cells.
Hello JeffH, Thank you for the welcome and reply. Yes the frames are foundationless. All of the queen cells I removed were on the bottom of the frames. I did leave one that was up a bit by the middle of the frame. I did move three frames to the 2nd brook box yesterday, as it seemed like the right thing to do, so thank you in confirming that move. However, I put all three in the center. I’ll check them in a day or so. Should I remove the queen cell that I left? Thanks Again! Jerry
Hi Jerry, yes break every one down, that is if you’re sure that they are swarm cells & not emergency cells.
Your profile says “2 hives”, so therefore you’ll be able to use brood from the other hive if things go wrong.
It’s helpful to be able to distinguish between emergency cells & swarm cells. If the queen dies, a colony will produce emergency cells. In that case, it’s important to leave one good queen cell, otherwise the colony will surely die out.
In the case of swarm cells (when a queen is present), if you leave one, the colony will still swarm.
I can possibly help if you post a photo of the cell.
Hello Jeff thank you for the advice. I inspected the hives today and could not fine the queen cell, I left last time. However, I did find what I believe are the beginnings of more queen cells. There are a lot of bees and many drones, way more than my other hive. the open frames I moved to the bottom box were full of comb. I have also already ordered 2 new queens just in case they are needed they will be here in a couple of days. since I am new the system only lets me attach 1 photo.
Hi Jerry, I see it was 6 days since my reply. Is that a new photo? It’s hard to tell with the bees whether they are emergency or swarm cells. If they are swarm cells, that would mean you have a queen in the hive. If emergency, (with no queen in the hive) well it could be too late for any new emergency cells to be of any use, on account that the 6 day window would have certainly passed.
Lets assume they are swarm cells, in that case break every one down & keep doing that until the urge to swarm passes, while opening the brood up & replacing with fresh foundation frames. Finding the queen will be helpful. Also see if those queen cells are charged or not.