Myrina Swarmed!

!

(insert curse word here)

Myrina swarmed today.  I hadn't been through her for a month.  Otherwise it may have been caught in time.  Too much of my focus has been on the Nucs.  Mary will be inspected tomorrow to keep this from happening there too.

The wife called me late morning to tell me about the swarm.  When I got back to the house the swarm was still in the tree; 50 feet up that is.  While i was driving the Wife put out a 10 frame Deep box with wired foundationless frames (we have no extra drawn frames) and lemon grass oil as a make-shift Swarm Trap.  Wouldn't it be nice if that worked out.

I did an inspection on Myrina as soon as i got home.  The honey super was still undrawn.  The top Deep was bound with honey and swarm cells.  The swarm cells, both hatched & unhatched, were removed.  A new queen was found and she was marked.  The bottom Deep had a few swarm cells in it to but was not honey bound.  Plus, there was a Supersedure Cell in it.  The Supersedure cell was left alone.  No pests were found.

SO, maybe the queen stopped laying a while ago; preparing for the swarm.  Since then the bees filled the brood sections with honey & made Swarm cells, 17 total.  Several of the swarm cells had hatched.  Yet this is the first time we've seen her swarm.  The population is still good.  If the honey frames had been drawn out they could have still made surplus this year.  Not likely now.

I guess the Supersedure Queen will emerge soon and do away with the new queen i found & marked.  I expect the personality of the colony won't change much though.  Since 2008 these 2 colonies, Myrina & Mary, have been very consistent in that respect.  Which leaves me with a colony that like the last 2 years wont produce anything.  My patients is wearing thin with these bees.  We'll see...

When I was finished with the inspection and going back to work the Swarm was still in it's tree.  Unless they move into the Swarm trap the Wife put out they'll be gone for good.

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The Swarm way up in the tree

7 Swarm Cells

8 Swarm Cells

I found this Queen & marked her

The population in Myrina is Still good

A Supersedure Cell in the Bottom Deep

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