Experimentation

I checked on the combo hive today, and I found about 10 swarm cells in various stages of development. Tim and I discussed what to do about it last week when I first noticed the bees starting to build swarm cells, and we half decided to just let them swarm. However, I was concerned about that for a couple of reasons; first, they might swarm themselves silly like the 'Old Hive' tried to do, and second, I don't want them swarming around the property where they are located--having a swarm of bees settle into the property owners' wall hardly seems like a nice way to say thank you for letting me keep bees there.

Most of the swarm cells, even ones that were pretty well built out seemed empty, so perhaps these are back up cells that the bees will only populate in an emergency?? There were a couple of capped swarm cells; one I left with the main hive, and the other I put into a split.

I also put a fully drawn out frame into the middle of the brood nest of the parent hive to give the bees a sense of having lots of space and maybe curb the swarming urge.

I tasted royal jelly today. I thought it would be sweet, but it was actually kind of salty with the distinct, earthy flavor of a bee hive.

The GOOD NEWS: There were two full frames of honey! Go bees, go! Having said that, the bees have slowed down wax production--they only filled a total of about one frame since my last inspection.

I am curious to see if putting the empty comb into the brood nest helps with the swarming. We shall see.