My hive recently swarmed even though I had plenty of room in the super. I did an inspection and found some Queen cells at the bottom of one of the frames. There is plenty of brood and honey and there are still many bees who are still active in the super, but I can see that there are less bees than last week. I can see bee larvae. Should I remove any Queen cells or leave them I’m a beginner and would appreciate any advice on what to do next. I’m in Conondale. Photo attached. Unfortunately I can only upload one photo.
If your colony swarmed 2 days ago, the queen should have left with the swarm.
You have a couple of choices.
#1 break every queen cell down bar one. That will stop a caste swarm from issuing.
#2, leave every queen cell, so that the strongest queen will emerge victorious. In doing so, you risk a caste swarm.
Colonies all around here are wanting to swarm (I’m in Buderim). It’s not a matter of “if they swarm”, more a matter of “when they swarm”. They don’t always wait till they run out of room during a strong swarm season, such as now.
Thanks very much for your quick response Jeff, it is much appreciated.
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