Busyknight,
 
   Thanks for the reply!
 
>You're learning alot about honeybees right now.
 
Well, I'll be the first to admit that the bees know a LOT more than I do.
<g>  I learn something new almost every time I inspect my hives.
 
>First of all, I doubt that you need to order a new queen.
>Based on your description, I'd say you still have at
>least one queen (you may have more).  Do you know if
>your bees have cast off a swarm (or for that matter, even
>a secondary swarm)?  It sounds like that is a distinct
>possibility.
 
As far as I can tell, it doesn't appear that a swarm took place.  There
still appears to be a "healthy" amount of bees in the hive.  Is a secondary
swarm a smaller swarm?
 
>Some of my answer assumes a couple of things:  1) the
>wings of the queens were not clipped and 2) the original
>queen wasn't marked(?).  Were the new queens from super-
>cedure cells or swarm cells?  Do you know how to tell the
>difference?  Obviously, the colony was preparing to swarm.
>The swarming impulse is very hard to stop once its underway.
 
I unfortunately took the advice of someone very knowledgeable and did not
mark my queens last year.  I am sorry I didn't mark them.  Once this is over
with, I will be practicing with drones, then marking the queens.  No, the
wings were not clipped.
 
As for the new queen in the original hive, I did notice one swarm cell cut
open, so my assumption is that she came from that cell, and quite recently
from my last inspection last week.  I say quite recently because the other
queen cells were capped and still intact.  I wonder which the new queen
would attack first - the old queen or the swarm cells?
 
>No eggs being present during this time is not unusual.
>And eggs are hard to spot (if you're not use to what to
>look for).  Keep in mind just a little bit of sunlight (UV
>light) can damage them too...so *bee* careful!
 
I have seen eggs before and know that it takes a bit of practice to spot
them.  I'll be sure not to subject them to much sunlight.  Thanks for the
warning.
 
>I'd recommend that you do nothing for a few more days.  Give
>the virgin queen a chance to mate and to begin to start laying
>eggs.  Also, I'd recommend that you not disturb the
>hive; sometimes the workers will 'ball' the virgin queen in the
>process of trying to protect her.  Let it play out and check
>back in two weeks - I'm wagering that you'll find capped brood.
 
Once again, thanks for the warning.
 
>During the peak swarming season; you need to get into your hive
>every 7-10 days to kill swarm cells.  This is the only way to
>stop swarming and retain your large field forger work force so
>that you can get a really large honey corp from your hive.  Two
>weeks (i.e., 14 days) is too long to go between killing swarm
>cells for a colony that is 'bent' on swarming.
 
I make a point of inspecting my hives once a week during swarm season.  (I
didn't mention that in my original post.)  The two weeks refers to the time
from when I first noticed the swarm cells until today.  I have been
inspecting my hives every week.  I noted the very same thing last week and
decided that at least another week was needed to see if anything had changed.
 
I will admit that I did have to skip an inspection one week due to minor
surgery which kept me off my feet.  That is probably why on my last
inspection last week I spotted all of the swarm cells _already_ capped.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to convince my husband that he should be
a beekeeper too.  <g>
 
Thank you for all of the knowledgeable advice.  It is always much appreciated.
 
 
Laura
[log in to unmask]