I think it may be the slow start to spring with a month of bad weather last month!!
Two of my hives have been swarmy also with italian queens from last year, one a supercedure and the other a purchase online! They were a lovely temperament but yesterday were totally nuts!!
I used "Nigel's" snelgrove 2 adapted version which worked for the first hive, but need the board and brood box for the next one! I re-united after a week so will keep an eye out for that one.
I then used the adapted one for the other sweaty hive and hopefully, fingers crossed it will work again??!!
They pulled down queen cells in the brood box with queen (I pulled a few before procedure too) and the bees underneath tried to make a new queen, which I pulled the queen cells to stop this and now only sealed brood left (I think)!!
I have limited space too and to have a temporary stack is easier than faffing around looking for another good spot to put a nuc??!!
Two of my hives have been swarmy also with italian queens from last year, one a supercedure and the other a purchase online! They were a lovely temperament but yesterday were totally nuts!!
I used "Nigel's" snelgrove 2 adapted version which worked for the first hive, but need the board and brood box for the next one! I re-united after a week so will keep an eye out for that one.
I then used the adapted one for the other sweaty hive and hopefully, fingers crossed it will work again??!!
They pulled down queen cells in the brood box with queen (I pulled a few before procedure too) and the bees underneath tried to make a new queen, which I pulled the queen cells to stop this and now only sealed brood left (I think)!!
I have limited space too and to have a temporary stack is easier than faffing around looking for another good spot to put a nuc??!!