North west GA greetings

[Hayesbo]

I live in NW Georgia. Not quite in the corner but close enough I guess. 

I started with 4 hives and equipment that I purchased from a beek that was moving and couldn't take the hives with him. This was in June of '07 so I haven't been doing this long.

I lost a hive a couple of months ago. I am pretty sure to my own ineptitude. I opened the hive to find a major infestation of Wax Moths. Yuck!! The hive had limited numbers of workers(most were older) and an uncommonly high number of drones. I think, by the clues, that I had lost the queen. As I had opened the hive and looked at a strong colony about a month and a half before that, I think I may have damaged or killed the queen when trying to medicate with Checkmite+. No blame to the product, I have never found he queen and decided I should look extra hard that visit. I probably dropped her or damaged her between frames.

This spring I will be replacing all my queens with more gentle stock anyway. It is emabarassing to see all the pics posted of folks working their hives with limited or no sting protection, when mine try to run me back into my truck or in the house screaming like a girl.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to replace the queens you can't find. I know they are there, I find eggs, just no queens. I am told that some strains of bees the queens can be as small as the workers. I am sticking to this as my reason for not being able to find the queens since this explanation is not as embarassing. I have enough trouble salvaging my manhood after running from a few stings. Also, does anyone have any recommendations on a race of bees? I really don't mind a few stings here and there, I am just tired of mean bees. I have opened my hives just to look at them then leave them for a few minutes and then come back to just watch and have 6 bees jump off the top and attack me while I was still 3 feet away. These girls gotta go!

Thanks everyone,  Steve

[JP]

Steve, welcome to the forums! Go to www.bushfarms.com, Michael Bush is one of our forum members on beemaster and his personal website has a plethera of information for the newbie as well as for the advanced beekeeper. He has a section on there on requeening a hot hive, which also helps you isolate the queen. It will help you with your hives. Finding queens is not always an easy task, so don't feel bad. As you will see by different responses, your wax moth hive had a problem before it had wax moth. You may have injured her, or the hive could have swarmed, but not entirely, leaving behind much less numbers to evade wax moth, hence them taking over. Who knows for sure, that's beekeeping, anyway, good to see you here.

Sincerely, JP

[Cindi]

Steve, ignore my other post where I asked you to tell about yourself, I didn't see yet this post and you have already done that.  Good.  So, again, welcome to our forum.  You will find a wealth of information here, and one day you will provide a wealth of information to new beekeepers too, yea!!!  Learning and listening, important parts of our lives.  Have a great and wonderful best day.  Cindi

[asprince]

Welcome Hayesbo and dito the advice from JP. I am completing my second year of beekeeping and I still have a difficult time finding my queens.  It takes practice. Read all the posts that you can and use the search function to research questions and feel free to post.

There are a lot of beekeepers in North Ga. Find one and ask them to be your mentor. Reading is good but a few minutes suited up with a mentor will take you far.

Steve     

[KONASDAD]

You usualy will find the queen in the center of brood area. Look for empty cells and eggs surrounded by capped brood. Usually in that vacinity. I also hold edge of frame even w/ eyes and the queen's back is taller often and you can scan a whole board quickly. Once you find her, make mental note, she will usually be on or near that board again in the future. Welcome aboard.

[JP]

If I may add to Kona's post. The queen will also usually be on a frame that has the most bees, compared to other frames in your hive. Also, the bees near the queen have a tendancy to act differently, and form a circle, facing her, look for the circle, and a lot of times you will find the queen. Last thing, if you don't see her, don't give up. Recheck your frames, even ones you've already checked. You'd be surprised what that one more check will yield.

Sincerely, JP

[Hayesbo]

Thanks for the welcome, folks. And awesome advice on finding those queens. I can't wait for it to warm up so i can crack open the hives and try all the good advice. ;) :lol:

Thanks,  Steve