Hello, I am a 10 year beekeeper and bee remover. I’ve taught hobbyists and removers the ins and outs of beekeeping for awhile now, and I’ve gotten to the point that I feel there’s very little that bees have left to teach me. I deal with a more southern climate, not much overwintering, and my bees are partly Africanized, like the local population. I can answer questions about hobbyist beekeeping as well as strategies for removal and relocation. Have a problem you can’t quite figure out? Bees being a bit mysterious to you? Having trouble with a particular hive? Want to know more about what gear or woodenware you’re working with? Hit me up here!
I’ve purchased two overwinter nucs that I’m building up this year - one is extremely healthy and going great, the other has been a little sleepy from the start. I supered both at ~10 days after installing them in deeps, and I noticed sleepy hive was working on 3 supersedure cells. All were fairly fresh, only one had an egg in it. I located the queen, so I knocked them all down.
A week later I inspected for general health after a full week of rain and sleepy hive had one more queen cell, this time with a fairly developed larva in it. Found queen again so I killed the larva and crushed the cell.
The queen overwintered, so I dont think it’s new hive jitters, but maybe the change in location is messing with them? Any thoughts as to why they’re trying for a new queen when the current one is healthy and laying?