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BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: The Bix on March 31, 2011, 08:12:26 pm

Title: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on March 31, 2011, 08:12:26 pm
I found her right outside the entrance on the front porch...dead with one worker walking around her...the latter popped me when I tried to pick up the dead queen.

The hive was healthy, really rocking too.  I thought they were in very good shape.  Do I attempt to requeen or let them raise an emergency queen?  Perhaps they superseded her?  It's a bit early in the season yet.  I've seen a lot of drones in the hives, but haven't seen any flying yet.
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: Kathyp on March 31, 2011, 08:18:04 pm
check.  bet you have another in there.
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: OzBuzz on March 31, 2011, 08:19:53 pm
Yeah, i'd do an inspection - highly likely you have another queen! if not then you should have some fresh eggs in there and, for the time being at least, i'd let them raise their own... later you can choose to buy another queen when the season really gets going over there (unless you can already buy mated queens)
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on March 31, 2011, 08:38:34 pm
The dead queen was a new fall queen I bought from a local beekeeper.  Is it possible they superseded her in the fall and they just got around to kicking her out?
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: OzBuzz on March 31, 2011, 09:18:22 pm
The dead queen was a new fall queen I bought from a local beekeeper.  Is it possible they superseded her in the fall and they just got around to kicking her out?

Not likely - bees are quite hygienic and would have kicked her out pretty quickly. Have you opened up the hive to have a look at what's going on?
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on March 31, 2011, 09:24:27 pm
Oz, not today.  It's warm, but late in the day when I found the dead queen and very, very windy.  It's been a steady 32 km/hour wind out of the north today.  Do you think I should check anyway?
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: OzBuzz on March 31, 2011, 10:05:06 pm
How warm? is your hive in a fairly sheltered location? is it still sunny? you will need to do a complete and thorough inspection so i'd probably do it when the weather is good and you have plenty of light
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: iddee on March 31, 2011, 10:47:24 pm
Oz, you would be quite surprised how often a mother and daughter will winter together, then the mother removed in the spring. It is a very common happening.I would wait 4 to 5 days and then look for queen and eggs. Either one means all is well .
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on April 01, 2011, 07:19:48 am
I would wait 4 to 5 days and then look for queen and eggs. Either one means all is well .

Iddee, why would you wait 4-5 days?
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: iddee on April 01, 2011, 08:06:37 am
If she was laying, her eggs will still be there for 3 days. If there are eggs in 4 days, you have another queen. Eggs are easier to find than queens. They don't move around as much.  :-D
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on April 01, 2011, 04:57:26 pm
I HAVE A QUEEN! YAY!

So the dead queen laying here on my desk got superseded and I was just "lucky" enough to see her laying on the front porch yesterday afternoon.  The bees would have been better off if they had hidden the carcass from me.  ;)

Iddee, I just couldn't stand to wait for four days so the wind was calm, the sun was out, I had 60 degrees and took the plunge.  She was on the next to last frame on the far side of the bottom box.  I am unhappy that I forgot to bring my marking pen, but it's just as well.  

Now the question I have is whether I mark her with a blue pen or a white one.  :)  I'm thinking blue because I haven't seen any drones flying yet and therefore assuming that the two queens coexisted during the winter.  I would love to get opinions from you experts though.

Also, I noticed her coloring was quite a bit different than her mom and the other Italian queen bees that I have.  Her tan parts seemed to be a bit darker and she has very well-defined black stripes on her abdomen.  Any thoughts about this are welcome too.

Thanks everyone!  Love this forum!!!

Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: Kathyp on April 01, 2011, 05:14:20 pm
i wouldn't bother marking her.  you found her without.  if she's replaced, so what?  it's performance that counts, not which year your queen is.
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on April 01, 2011, 06:16:49 pm
i wouldn't bother marking her.  you found her without.  if she's replaced, so what?  it's performance that counts, not which year your queen is.

I understand there is a disagreement regarding whether to mark queens or not, but I was trying (in a not so direct way) to guide the conversation toward when she emerged for my own personal education.
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: Kathyp on April 01, 2011, 06:34:00 pm
ahhh...no way to know.  pick a color  :-D  if i had to guess, i'd say last year, and you had a two queen hive over the winter.  just a guess, though.

did you pinch the old and immediately put in the new last year?  did you check for queen cells before you turned her loose?
Title: Re: Dead Queen, what to do now....?
Post by: The Bix on April 01, 2011, 06:43:23 pm
Hive went queenless in the fall and no queen cells that I noticed.  It is possible I overlooked something.  When I figured that they were queenless the hive only had capped brood.  The queen that I bought was laying in a 2 frame nuc.  I did a newspaper combine and they accepted her and she started laying in the deep hive body.