About 5-10mins... I'd just removed the queen because she hadn't expanded all year, and the bees had decided to swarm, which was silly. If the colony is queenless for an hour or more, then make sure to knock down any queen cells before combining.
@@MystTreeHoney I had the same problem a few weeks back. Queen was an excellent layer but the colony would not build the brood box for her to lay. Ended up swarming.
Funny you should mention that. I've just finished this weeks inspections, and that is what was happening to this hive. The issue is that the bees downstairs had decided they would prefer to make their own queen using the brood left over. I knocked the queen cells down and swapped the boxes, so the one with the queen is at the bottom. See next week if it works. I've had this a few times. It's because the queen is a few boxes away from the entrance. The bees either think she's trapped or the colony is too small to consider going into her box naturally. Swapping the boxes around tends to fix this problem.
How long was the bottom hive Queenless for?
About 5-10mins... I'd just removed the queen because she hadn't expanded all year, and the bees had decided to swarm, which was silly.
If the colony is queenless for an hour or more, then make sure to knock down any queen cells before combining.
@@MystTreeHoney I had the same problem a few weeks back. Queen was an excellent layer but the colony would not build the brood box for her to lay. Ended up swarming.
Funny you should mention that. I've just finished this weeks inspections, and that is what was happening to this hive. The issue is that the bees downstairs had decided they would prefer to make their own queen using the brood left over. I knocked the queen cells down and swapped the boxes, so the one with the queen is at the bottom. See next week if it works.
I've had this a few times. It's because the queen is a few boxes away from the entrance. The bees either think she's trapped or the colony is too small to consider going into her box naturally. Swapping the boxes around tends to fix this problem.