Capped Queens Cells EVERYWHERE

Unfortunately the colder weather kept me out for 2 weeks. That was clearly critical this time of the year with capped swarms cells in 2 of the 4 hives. Crazy given I split 1 of them and Demaree'd the other. Strong bees I guess. 8 frame (split with new queen) No super needed since they haven't drawn out the existing one much. Unfortunately a TON of capped queen cells in the top brood box...most of which were ripped off when I pulled the box from the bottom brood box. None in the bottom box. I put everything back together and fingers crossed. I'll go back in a week to check for eggs/larvae. Circle/H&B Co Package 2025 (Demaree) No more swarm cells in the top box here and they're backfilling with nectar. 2nd box was still lighter but they're working on it. 3rd super was heavy but they're drawing the already drawn frames into the area of the undrawn instead of drawing out the undrawn. Unfortunately capped queen cells in the bottom box. I scraped several off the bottom. Initially I was planning to "re-Demaree or try to moved some frames to a Nuc" but I found a capped queen cup high so maybe supersedure? So instead I pulled moved the excluder to above the 2nd box (using the least drawn super) and added a top super to stretch them out a bit...fingers crossed they only replace her and don't swarm. Cross (split with new queen) Not much action in the super. Tons of drone brood on the outside frame in the top brood box. Hopefully they just went there instead of the bottom. Bottom box still isn't very drawn out so I may flip the boxes next time. Nikki Swarm (Demaree) Upside down inner cover meant tons of burr comb...great. Backfilling the top super well. 2 super weighed a ton. 3rd super was packed as well. First frame in the single deep brood chamber was PACKED with capped brood. Still tons of wonky drone comb on the bottom...unfortunately maybe one open queen cell. I scraped it all off just in case. I left it as a single brood for now...maybe should've put the least drawn super back as a brood box. We'll see. Instead I pulled the lightest box to the top in an effort to get them to draw it out faster...they're clearly bringing in a ton of nectar given all the burr comb on the flipped inner cover. May 8, 2026 4:00 pm