Hi All
I am in a bit of a quandary. In the advice of the BBKA, I performed a shook swarm (actually replaced all but one frame in brood box) 2 weeks ago to refresh the comb in my hive and as I live in a EFB area, controlling the chance of this spreading and developing in my hive (no evidence I had it by the way). Queen present, booming hive, eggs and larvae seen. 2 weeks later today, I'm gardening during a brief bit of sun and suddenly hear the hive and see that there are lots flying around and clinging on the front of the hive, more than with the standard orientation flights. I got by suit on to investigate and on the one frame I left behind found around 5 sealed Queen cells. Oddly, they're around the edge but not hanging from the bottom and have the shape of a supersedure cell. I could not find my Queen. I never saw the beginnings of Queen cells when I did the coomb changeover so these must have been built immediately after. I was careful and know the Queen was fine when I finished my previous inspection. However, now I'm in the situation of having one decent frame of larvae (young to old) with the Q cells. All my eggs in one basket! So, if I were to treat as a swarm the remaining hive would have no viable larvae or eggs to work with. Help? Be kind. PS I have a nucleus ready and waiting.
I am in a bit of a quandary. In the advice of the BBKA, I performed a shook swarm (actually replaced all but one frame in brood box) 2 weeks ago to refresh the comb in my hive and as I live in a EFB area, controlling the chance of this spreading and developing in my hive (no evidence I had it by the way). Queen present, booming hive, eggs and larvae seen. 2 weeks later today, I'm gardening during a brief bit of sun and suddenly hear the hive and see that there are lots flying around and clinging on the front of the hive, more than with the standard orientation flights. I got by suit on to investigate and on the one frame I left behind found around 5 sealed Queen cells. Oddly, they're around the edge but not hanging from the bottom and have the shape of a supersedure cell. I could not find my Queen. I never saw the beginnings of Queen cells when I did the coomb changeover so these must have been built immediately after. I was careful and know the Queen was fine when I finished my previous inspection. However, now I'm in the situation of having one decent frame of larvae (young to old) with the Q cells. All my eggs in one basket! So, if I were to treat as a swarm the remaining hive would have no viable larvae or eggs to work with. Help? Be kind. PS I have a nucleus ready and waiting.