Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Hi all,

I have 2 deeps and 2 mediums on. I was feeding the bees with a top feeder until a week or so ago to get comb drawn out. I had a ton of brood in my deep supers. The two medium supers have 95% capped honey and 55% capped respectively, however the two deeps no longer have any brood. I found 3 opened queen/swarm cells in one super and 1 in the other. I am not good at finding my queen and have never been successful unless she was marked.

The deeps that have built comb in them are full of nectar but I don't see any eggs. Is that normal for this time of year? Are the bees going overboard with honey? Or did I lose a queen and they haven't gotten a new one up and running yet?

If anyone in the area is near Hicone Road and wanted to help with an inspection I would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you in advance!

How were the queen cells open. On the side, or nice round hole on the bottom end?

Nice round hole on the bottom

It sounds like your hive swarmed and is in the process of requeening. A nice round opening on the bottom of a queen cell is where a queen chewed her way out and emerged. I have little luck trying to find virgin queens-small, fast, and shy. When I know a hive has swarmed, I tend to leave it alone for about 20 days and keep an eye on the landing board activity. If there were eggs when the swarm took place, this brood would be capped in around 10 days. Pollen collecting may slow or stop. If I see pollen coming in around day 18 and it is coming in steadily, I may go in around day 20 and look for eggs. Take a look at Michael Bush's bee math. It may help you figure things out.
https://bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

@Jacobs

Thank you for the info. I'll let them bee for a while and read over The Bush bee chart!

Jacobs beat me to it.