 Emergency queen cells several days after queens were removed during spring splits. Photo by Eric Malcolm, April 15, 2026 | Time in the Yard: 17 hours 33 minutes Avg Time per Colony: 17.5 minutes Total Colonies: 66 Temperature (°F): Hi: 90° Low: 41° Avg: 67.3° Total Precipitation: 0” Notes: We inspected and removed every queen cell (we hope!) to prevent the hives from requeening themselves and rejecting the newly introduced mated queens. |
Actions:
Over the course of 3 days: Made nucs from splits (n=2). Hived all nucs made from this and last week’s splits (n=6). Pulled (n=7) and pinched (n=26) queens and checked colonies for queen cells (n=56). Removed emergency, supersedure, or swarm queen cells (n=18) in preparation to introduce newly arrived queens. After colonies were queenless for at least 24 hours, we requeened colonies (n=58).
Observations:
Colonies where queens were pulled last week all had capped or nearly capped emergency queen cells. Found one queen in a colony we installed from a package in the process of being balled. Two of Maryland’s primary nectar sources began to bloom (black locust, black cherry) on Friday of this week, which felt very early to us. Colony temperaments were almost entirely 4+ out of 5 (very gentle).
Reflections:
Another busy week in the bees! There were 7 queens that overwintered from the previous season that were laying excellent brood patterns and whose colonies had very gentle temperaments. We would normally have kept them in a split or nucs to continue being productive members of the operation. Unfortunately, we did not make proper transportation arrangements or have additional hives prepared after an already significant expansion, and the pulled queens died shortly after being removed from their colonies. This will encourage us to be better prepared to accommodate queens being removed from their colonies when splits are not being made promptly. Not much breaks our heart in beekeeping, but losing an exceptional queen is one of them.
Things in bloom: Purple Deadnettle, Common Stork’s bill, European Field Pansy, Dandelion, Lesser Celandine, Grape Hyacinth, Japanese Andromeda,Kanzan Cherry , Eastern Redbud, Wisteria, Giant Snowflake, Shepherd’s Purse, Lilac, Norway Maple, Henbit deadnettle, American Sweetgum, Lenten Rose, Star of Bethlehem, Autumn Olive, Purple Crown Vetch, Japanese Snowball, Paulownia, Black Locust, Black Cherry
Over the course of 3 days: Made nucs from splits (n=2). Hived all nucs made from this and last week’s splits (n=6). Pulled (n=7) and pinched (n=26) queens and checked colonies for queen cells (n=56). Removed emergency, supersedure, or swarm queen cells (n=18) in preparation to introduce newly arrived queens. After colonies were queenless for at least 24 hours, we requeened colonies (n=58).
Observations:
Colonies where queens were pulled last week all had capped or nearly capped emergency queen cells. Found one queen in a colony we installed from a package in the process of being balled. Two of Maryland’s primary nectar sources began to bloom (black locust, black cherry) on Friday of this week, which felt very early to us. Colony temperaments were almost entirely 4+ out of 5 (very gentle).
Reflections:
Another busy week in the bees! There were 7 queens that overwintered from the previous season that were laying excellent brood patterns and whose colonies had very gentle temperaments. We would normally have kept them in a split or nucs to continue being productive members of the operation. Unfortunately, we did not make proper transportation arrangements or have additional hives prepared after an already significant expansion, and the pulled queens died shortly after being removed from their colonies. This will encourage us to be better prepared to accommodate queens being removed from their colonies when splits are not being made promptly. Not much breaks our heart in beekeeping, but losing an exceptional queen is one of them.
Things in bloom: Purple Deadnettle, Common Stork’s bill, European Field Pansy, Dandelion, Lesser Celandine, Grape Hyacinth, Japanese Andromeda,
A queen, in a recently installed colony from a package, found while being balled by the workers. Photo by Eric Malcolm, April 16, 2026.