STRANGE QUEEN BEHAVIOR

[tig]

have you ever observed a queen that just lays eggs on top of the comb and not down on the cells?  all of the eggs she lays are made into emergency queen cells.  we have a russian queen that is artificially inseminated and had been laying like thisand she's fairly young, about a month old.  does anyone know what causes it or has observed this behavior?

[Finsky]

she lays into emergency queen cells.

I heard from one queen seller that inseminated queen are often violated by  inseminating act and that may be the case. When hive and queen notice that they try to raise new queen as soon as possible.

Last summer I bought a queen. I did some eggs. I suppose that queen got nosema, because it's abdomen was very swollen.

When I have bought queens from Italy, most of those cases bees began to raise new queen. I think that they are viloted during queen's long journey.

It is very slow proces to get a new queen into the hive from egg. It takes over 3 weeks before the new one lays eggs. It is better cast away and get a new one.  I do not know if your queen seller gives a new one without payment.

[Michael Bush]

The bees decide what to rear, not the queen.  She may lay the eggs but they often remove them becuase they are not what they want, or they turn them into queens becuase THAT'S what they want.  If the bees are trying to rear a queen, then there is probably something wrong with the current one.  In other words, where the queen lays the eggs isn't what causes a queen to be reared becuase the workers decide to remove an egg or rear it, or rebuild the cell to make a queen.

Where are you?  It's too late to be rearing queens here and I'm guessing most places.

[Finsky]

The bees decide what to rear, not the queen.  .

Yes, you right Michael.

[tig]

i come from the philippines which is a tropical country.  we don't have any winter and my bees can swarm at any time of the year. i figured something must be wrong with that particular queen and her bees are probably trying to supercede her.   thanks a lot for the replies!

[Finsky]

i come from the philippines which is a tropical country.  !

That is interesting. I have read some beekeeping reports from Fhilippinese beekeeping and European bees do not survive in all places there.  http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/beekeeping_philippines.htm

Africanized bee in South Americia was born because European bee could not stand tropical weather. Queens from tropical Africa was the answer and now it goes too well.

[tig]

in truth i think my country is very idea for beekeeping.  all my queens are carniolans which is supposed to be a colder climate bee and yet they have done remarkably well, even during our blistering summer.  i've travelled around my country and except for very small islands which don't have enough land area for much plants to grow, just about any part of the philippines is ideal for beekeeping.  i even know of some areas where the honeyflow reaches over 6 months of the year!

[Michael Bush]

In my opinion, if the bees have decided to rear a new queen, they will eventually succeed, but since you have a nice inseminated queen it would be nice to keep her.  If the weather is conducive to rearing queens, then I'd let them rear one and move her to a small nuc and try to get some more queens from her or get that hive to grow, but still it may fail because there may be something wrong with the queen that you can't tell but the bees can.

[Finsky]

in truth i think my country is very idea for beekeeping.

That is nice! I got anoher picture when I read this document and some others.
http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/beekeeping_philippines.htm