Author Topic: oh bleep (Read 3289 times)

newguy · « **on:** August 16, 2005, 09:40:22 am »

in my last post i mentioned how i actually had my first positive outcome after 3 months of checking my bees. now its all gone to hell. three weeks ago i found a dead queen in front of my hive, two weeks ago i found another dead queen in front of my hive, last week i found a new queen in the hive and this one was small and differant looking so i knew this was a virgin queen as there were no eggsin the hive. also i noticed a lot of drone activety so i figured there would soon be a mating flight and everything would be just swell. so for this week my most anticipated inspection of the season, as i open the hive with giddy anticipation expecting to see a busy queen and tons of eggs, "huh, seems like less bees in here, .... a lot less bees... what the bleep....oh bleep theyve swarmed". at least half of the pop. is gone and that queen didn,t leave even one egg that i could find. the only brood i have now is a few capped and very little of those.

i have a new queen coming on thurs. i hope they can straighten themselves out before winter. i didnt know they swarmed at this time of year. they had plenty of room to expand (about six frames of foundation in two deeps). how long after emerging does the queen mate and then start laying?

Michael Bush · « **Reply #1 on:** August 16, 2005, 10:03:05 am »

The time delay for a new queen is long enough (28 days from egg to a laying queen) that there will be no eggs even though there is a virgin queen. Before swarming the old queen quits laying. I'd make SURE there isn't a queen before you try to introduce a new one or they will just kill the new one. A frame of eggs is the best way to find out. If they don't start a queen on the new frame of eggs then they probably have one. If they start one, then they are probably queenless and you can probably introduce the new queen with no problems.

newguy · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2005, 08:57:13 pm »

:? what do you mean "a frame of eggs is the best way to find out"? i have absolutly zero eggs and only a few capped brood(now even less since tuesday)and zero of anything else, also its my only hive. i just requeened today. before i put the new queen in i did a quick check for eggs and still had none. wow 28 days, i hope i didn't miss the queen, befor they swarmed i only saw one queen and none after. i hope its not total mayhem in there.

Joseph Clemens · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2005, 09:12:01 pm »

From your response I am guessing that you only have the one hive. If that is the case then you may want to see if you can enlist the assistance of a beekeeper friend in your area to provide a frame with eggs to test your hive with.

Well, since you have already begun introducing a new queen, I am hoping that a virgin/young queen or unhatched queen cell is not lurking somewhere in your hive to inspire them to reject your new queen.

Wishing you good success at requeening your hive.

Rich V · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2005, 11:35:20 pm »

Newguy

I also have had problems with introducing new queens this year. The third time was the charm. An older beekeeper suggested that I spray all the bees down with vanilla flavored sugar syurp. Intrroduce The Queen, but do not remmove the plug from the queen cage. Wait three days then remove the plug. Make sure you remove any emergency queen cell if you have them. This worked for me. Good luck.

Rich V.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #5 on:** August 19, 2005, 12:11:30 pm »

>what do you mean "a frame of eggs is the best way to find out"?

I meant exactly that.

> i have absolutly zero eggs and only a few capped brood(now even less since tuesday)and zero of anything else, also its my only hive.

That's why you should always have at least two hives.

> i just requeened today. before i put the new queen in i did a quick check for eggs and still had none. wow 28 days, i hope i didn't miss the queen, befor they swarmed i only saw one queen and none after. i hope its not total mayhem in there.

If they are queenless and if you have her in a cage with candy there's a good chance they will accept her. If they are NOT queenless and there is a virgin queen in there, then they will kill the new queen. A frame of eggs is a good way to determine if they are or are not queenless. Odds are if there is a virgin queen you can't find her since she's shy, fast and small and she might even be doing an orientation flight or a mating flight the day you look for her.

newguy · « **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2005, 09:09:52 pm »

thanks micheal
i did see a small fast queen two weeks ago, she was sort of running and flying at the same time all over a frame, that was the only queen that i could see at the time. that was before the hive swarmed, when i saw that they had swarmed i ASSumed they left with that queen because i thought and still do think that was the only queen. after they swarmed i looked for any sign of a queen and found none, i also checked again yesterday when i requeened i hope they were queenless. i did see a bee being dragged out today and couldn't help but think it was one of the attendants from the new queen but i know that isn't really out of the ordinary to see that once in a while even in a healthy hive. ill know in a couple of days if i wasted $27 on the new queen.

jefftck · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:43:28 pm »

Quote from: newguy

ill know in a couple of days if i wasted $27 on the new queen.

We seem to be going thru the same thing at the same time. :) http://www.beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=3613
I just added a queen Thursday to my second hive.
But $27.00 for a queen seems kind of high I just paid $13.50 for an Italian queen from http://www.kelleybees.com/ I ordered her Monday evening and she got here Thursday.

I hope the link is allowed :?:

newguy · « **Reply #8 on:** August 20, 2005, 12:00:47 pm »

i paid $17 for the queen and i think $10 for 2nd day air shipping through draper.