Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: CapnChkn on June 07, 2011, 01:54:23 pm
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I have a hive that became hot very quickly. One week I'm holding frames out of the super with nothing on but shorts and a hat, the next I can't even walk across the barnyard without being dive-bombed. I've read as much as I can and taken this course of action.
- Moved the hive. This was the worst part. I had two colonies next to each other, one a little nuc, the other this barracks of "Orcs." I set out a nuc box with drawn comb in it's place only to work for one transport of field bees. I know I should have moved them miles, but I don't have those resources. Of course the other colony received all the drift and is now in a full sized Langstroth.
- Split the hive 24 hours before receiving a queen, and 1 week after moving them. Decidedly calmer, I investigated the brood chamber of the neurotic hive. I can't see anything small because I can't remove my glasses with the veil on. I can tell you I saw lots of drones. There was open and sealed brood, not in great numbers, but they were there.
Thinking this might be a phase or the colony might be queenless, I went to stand 6 ft. (2 M) from the other hive with all the drift bees, only to be stung within 30 seconds. - Opened each 5 frames of bees and checked their demeanor toward the caged queen. I've read about the "finger test," and I couldn't tell you which was which. They both seemed to want to hang on tight. However, trying not to stress the new queen more than I have to, I brushed the young "Orcs" from the cage, place her on the other half of the split with pretty much the save results except the bees were trying to sting.
I've placed her in the nuc box with the "clingy" bees with the cork removed from the candy side. The idea here is to make sure things are going good, pinch the Orc queen, and combine with the nice one. My questions are:
Have I made the right choice in group? I'm nervous as I've never done this kind of thing before, and I'm making sure I have the right thing going on. Stinging behavior kind of seals the deal for me.
Does this sound like queenlessness? It seems the colony has things going, if not well with the number of drones I saw. Psycho bees don't make any sense to me, sane ones only keep me confused.
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lots of drones at this time of the year don't mean much if there is plenty of worker brood in there. last year i had tons of drones. more than i have ever seen in hives. this year, normal.
not sure i completely understand all that you did, but if you have good queens in each hive and are not getting the snot stung out of you when you go out there, you are good. :-D
how are the resources in your area? the queen can lay less when there isn't much food. the hives can get testy for lots of reasons, including not having enough to eat.
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A sudden increase in aggression can signal queenlessness, but if you are seeing reasonable amounts of open worker brood, then you probably have a queen somewhere. All sorts of other factors can make a hive aggressive. My hives get noticeably hotter whenever there's no nectar coming in, regardless of how much stores they have.
You detail your introduction of a new queen, but are you really sure you've got it in the half without the queen? If you don't, your caged queen is in for a rough time and will probably die for nothing. You need to find a way to look for eggs, because you split long enough ago that the queenless half shouldn't have any. Can you take a magnifying glass out to the splits with you? Or use a digital camera to take close-ups of areas of possibly empty cells and look at them on a big screen?
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I was wondering if the nectar flow was diminishing, we've had a few weeks of dry weather. I would look for pollen coming in, but I can't sit next to either hive now; separated by trees, barn, and about 100 ft. I have put syrup out, only to have it ignored. I can see why I would see a lot of empty cells if that were the case. Thank you Kathy!
Digital Camera. Hmmm. How to shoot with gloves and Propolis. I do have until morning to figure something out. Thank you. Yep! I am confident in everything except the "finding the queen thing." That has me on edge.
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Queens can be hard to spot...eggs are an excellent sign that does not run around on the frame or hide in the corners.
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I agree it's a skill to find the queen. I kept her in the little nuc for 3 days, the candy was eaten most of the way, and the bees moved when I pushed on them. My guess is they have to settle before they let go and move when you push.
I popped the cork on the free side, left it there a half hour, went back to get the cage and she was walking around on the outside. I watched as the bees moved out of her way, all facing the star, and she went below. I then tried to get the bees out of the way, dodging the guards, brushing bees, and finally got the cage to see if she had gone inside again for some reason.
Satisfied she had gone in the frames, I took the remaining 5 bees and the cage to the another hive and set it there. Push comes to shove, hold the cage over the inner cover hole. The bees act like a dog when "Mama comes home" when queenless for 24 hours. Queenright hives go crazy and try to kill the cage.