I was taught they can use any (diploid) larva up to 5 days old, as they all get fed royal jelly for the first 5 days anyway.
I don’t know what the standard practice is in the US, but the techniques I was taught for swarm control all kinda require two hives, though you may be able to combine them back down to one at the end of the main swarming season (which is what I hope to do to avoid exponential hive growth). If you really only have space for one, it’s probably not the best plan.
Of course, you could always go for one of the hippy ‘natural’ styles of management, where they’re ‘left to swarm freely as nature intended’ :rolleyes: Seems to be taking off a bit around here… Fecking irresponsible idiots.
If the OP has limited bee-friendly real estate or time, it can be helpful to have a bee-keeping buddy who can absorb splits. This can be helpful for sharing resources, too. E.g. honey extraction equipment. You both have to be ok with each other’s hygiene, though. And there is more disease risk.
If you get your name out there, we’ve found you can get lots of calls for free bees. Or course the swarms don’t always hold still long enough for scooping.
I’ve heard some concern about poor beekeeping practices leading to greater pest populations in an area, e.g. mites and moths. Not sure if that’s actually an issue or not.
You are correct - I should have not said “laid.” The worker bees, when they notice a queen is missing, can turn worker-bee larvae from the previous queen into new queen larvae, as long as the larvae are young enough.
Apologies for my incorrect phrasing - workers very very rarely lay eggs themselves.