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Author Topic: ANOTHER dead Queen...good sign or bad?  (Read 1651 times)

Offline tjc1

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ANOTHER dead Queen...good sign or bad?
« on: May 19, 2013, 05:33:27 pm »
Back on May 1st I discovered a dead queen just being brought out of the hive, and found queen cells on the bottom edges of the super frame (Described here originally: http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,41028.0.html). On May 5th it seemed that one of those cells may have hatched. A few days ago (May 14) I could hear piping inside the hive , but an inspection showed no eggs or larvae (and the brood chamber filling up with honey and pollen...). Today, just when I happened to stop by to watch the bees, I saw two bees walking around and around something on the ground in front of the hive - another dead queen! I am guessing (hoping) that several queens have hatched and that they are duking it out. Is there anything else to do, or just wait for larvae? My estimates indicate that I should have a laying queen between May 19 and June 4th. How long can I wait safely for signs of a mated queen without major risk to the hive? It would be great for them to raise their own replacement local bred queen, but I worry for the hive.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2013, 05:58:55 pm by tjc1 »

Offline don2

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Re: ANOTHER dead Queen...good sign or bad?
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2013, 05:53:39 pm »
You had several queen cells. The piping is more than one queen, they are talking to each other to locate and fight. The hive should be ok if they have plenty of stores. You should have a laying queen in 5 to 10 days.

I went back and looked at your other post. You may have had a swarm or more from that hive. Not much you can do now excpt give them time to finish their thing. You should end up with a mated queen.

I am waiting on mine to cap all brood, "which should be Tuesday" to see if they made any queen cells. If not I will have to get another queen. Mine was a 5 frame nuc and they balled the queen the next day after I got it home. That was last Sunday. :) d2

Offline tjc1

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Re: ANOTHER dead Queen...good sign or bad?
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2013, 05:59:27 pm »
Thanks, Don! Good luck with your nuc.

 

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