Nuc question/ too many bees

[funbee1]

I recently lost a queen in one of my hives so I requeened. At the same time I pulled the frames that had queen cells and started a nuc. I inspected today and the new mated queen in the hive is out of her cage and there are fresh eggs, so that hive looks like ok.

In the nuc one of the queen cells is open and  I saw the new queen(She's way bigger than I expected for less than a week old). There are still about four good looking queen cells in the nuc. Should I just let nature work things out, scrape off the other cells, or start another hive? I lean toward split because my other hives are SO full.

I have bees galore in my other two hives and think I need to make some room ASAP before they swarm. There were also a couple fairly serious queen cells in those hives, almost complete and full of jelly just not closed on the very end yet. I can't believe how many bees are in there from what I started with(3lb pac). I have two 10 frame deeps Full of bees, honey,pollen and varing stages of brood. 18 of twenty frames are completly drawn and all frames are covered in bees with LOTS of capped brood. I added a med. super to these strong hives a week ago but they haven't touched them. Space is maxed out and lots more bees will be emerging in a few days. The biggest problem I think is that I bought into two deep/two med. hive setups, so I don't have any frames to stick into the med. super to get them up there and drawing comb,I only have deep frames that have been drawn. When I put my second deep on they just drew it out and she started laying....but I also had a top feeder on full of 1:1 syrup.

So should I put feeders back on to try and draw the bees into the med. super? Make splits in the mean time? Or just FREAK OUT MAN?

Thanks for all your input,
scott

[FRAMEshift]

Those full hives that are about to close their queen cells are going to swarm in a couple of days at most.  You should do some kind of split NOW.  If you can find the queen, move her and some frames of honey, and brood to another box.  If you can't find her, do an even split with queen cells in each.  Whatever you do, I'd do it soon.

[funbee1]

Thanks for the reply FRAMEshift. That's exactly what I was afraid of, I know I can find the one queen, she's marked. I'll have to try and get some deep frames/foundation tomorrow and slap some hive bodies together. If I lose bees I'll be so disappointed!

[FRAMEshift]

Thanks for the reply FRAMEshift. That's exactly what I was afraid of, I know I can find the one queen, she's marked. I'll have to try and get some deep frames/foundation tomorrow and slap some hive bodies together. If I lose bees I'll be so disappointed!

I gather that you understand the problem of incompatibility of multiple frame sizes.  If you want to move to all mediums, this would be a good time.  Instead of building new deeps, you could build new mediums.  Stack two medium boxes on top of each other and place the deep frames in the upper box, extending down into the lower box.  You can then gradually add medium frames to the box and move the deep frames to the outside and then out altogether as they become empty.  Just a suggestion if you want to standardize on one size.

[funbee1]

Yeah, I hear what your saying. I just bought what a experienced local reccommended. Now it seems really dumb. I'm 38 and in pretty good shape and those deeps are almost too much already. No way I'll be lifting them in 10-20 years. Plus it looks like if you do this long enough you end up with a BUNCH of hives. I read post by M. Bush yesterday and he said he has switched to all meds. and reccommends it, that's the direction I'm headed.

[robthir]

I also was considering all mediums.  Seems easier all around.

[stella]

I started with 8 frame deeps. When they are full they are very heavy! Im planning on switching also to mediums, over time. I have a stack ready to roll. It would be more enjoyable, in 90 degree summer heat, to lessen the sweat factor. If just a bit.

[Finski]

Those full hives that are about to close their queen cells are going to swarm in a couple of days at most. 

If a nuc has a queen and open queen cells, they swarm like FrameS says.