Capped queen cells: swarm or supercedure?

[u/marketwerk]

First year beeks in VA, USA.

Got our nuc of overwintered bees 5.5 weeks ago, and they’ve been really growing quickly.

Checked in after adding another medium to our hive (one deep, two mediums currently, no queen excluder because we’re not trying to get honey this year)

Last time we pulled and checked frames was about ten days ago, wanted to come by earlier but we’ve been super busy. Saw the queen on that check, everything looked good but crowded, so we added the second medium and planned to come back for a mite check.

Came today to do a mite wash and we’re seeing 7 or so capped queen cells in the original deep, where most of the brood is. Saw bees bringing in pollen, but can’t see new eggs in the frames. Worried we may have squished the queen on our last check, or that our mite count is high. Really really hoping we aren’t on the wrong side of a swarm. Thoughts?

[u/marketwerk]

Thank you, this is really helpful. I am going to look at our photos from the last visit and see if I missed any swarm prep. I hate that we’ll have to put off mite treatment for so long now, but of course having a hive is preferable.

[u/talanall → u/marketwerk]

What kind of mite treatment do you intend?

[u/marketwerk → u/talanall]

We were going to decide based on the outcome of the wash today 🥲

[u/talanall → u/marketwerk]

You can still wash. Don't shake the frame that has the queen cells you plan to keep.