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Author Topic: queen not laying for 4 weeks  (Read 2089 times)

Offline BeeIrish

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queen not laying for 4 weeks
« on: August 06, 2013, 06:07:09 pm »
It started that I could not find the queen on a few visits and the bees got aggressive, so I got a queen and introduced her via a cage with fondant.
24 hours later the queen had been released and I checked the hive 5 days later, no queen and no eggs.
The queen was marked with a red marker, I checked it for a further 3 visits and could not find a queen or eggs.
The bees are calm and I got a frame of eggs and larva from a friend and placed it into the hive.
Checked it a week later and was expecting to see queen cells BUT none were there.
This is two weeks later, and no queen no eggs and no queen cells.
Therefore I estimate that there has been no eggs laid for approx. 5 weeks.
can anybody advise what to do next?

Offline BeeMaster2

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Re: queen not laying for 4 weeks
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2013, 12:16:17 am »
My first question is: are you seeing any larvae? Next: if there is larvae, is it drone or worker? Capped drone looks like bullets. If there are capped worker brood. Is it a good solid pattern with a few holes here and there or is it a few cells here and there? Is there open brood?
If you have no queen for 2 and 1/2 weeks you should only have capped brood at best.
If there is no worker brood, you probably have a laying worker. If you want to take the time to save this hive you will need to add 2 more frames of brood, spaced one each week.
The problem is that more often than not by the time the bees decide to make a new queen and then the time it takes for her to hatch, breed and start laying eggs, the hive is so weak that the beetles take over.
I shook out a worker hive this year and put the frames on another hive to keep the beetles from taking it over.

There is a good chance that you are just not able to see the eggs. Hence the first questions above. My buddy cannot see the eggs also. I can not see eggs in my observation hive through the glass.

Can you post some pictures?
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline Joe D

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Re: queen not laying for 4 weeks
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2013, 01:19:13 am »
Where are you located.  I had a hive to swarm this spring and no queen cell was found.  I went to the guy I usually get queens from.  We checked all his queen boxes and none had a good laying queen.  With the weather we had this spring we figured it was raining when it was time for their maiden flight, and didn't get bred.  He gave me an old queen to put in the hive.  I installed her, in the cage, into the hive.  Checked in a few days, she was not in the cage.  Didn't find her, still had no brood, in a week or so started looking for another queen.  Seems the other queen breeders were having the same luck.   A week or so latter I caught a swarm, was going to try to paper combine them.  Went out to the hive to put paper on top, checked hive one more time, there was worker brood on several frames.  It isn't the queen that my buddy gave me, or no paint now.  But if you don't have one you need a queen, and like Jim said beetles and moths can sense a weak hive.  Good luck, hope you can save them.


Joe

Offline BeeIrish

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Re: queen not laying for 4 weeks
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2013, 08:23:29 pm »
HI Jim

Thanks for the mail, there is no brood, lavae or any eggs but I got a frame today with eggs larvae and capped brood and put it in.
I will check it in about 8 days to see if I see any queen cells.

Thanks again for the mail and help.

Regards

Denis


My first question is: are you seeing any larvae? Next: if there is larvae, is it drone or worker? Capped drone looks like bullets. If there are capped worker brood. Is it a good solid pattern with a few holes here and there or is it a few cells here and there? Is there open brood?
If you have no queen for 2 and 1/2 weeks you should only have capped brood at best.
If there is no worker brood, you probably have a laying worker. If you want to take the time to save this hive you will need to add 2 more frames of brood, spaced one each week.
The problem is that more often than not by the time the bees decide to make a new queen and then the time it takes for her to hatch, breed and start laying eggs, the hive is so weak that the beetles take over.
I shook out a worker hive this year and put the frames on another hive to keep the beetles from taking it over.

There is a good chance that you are just not able to see the eggs. Hence the first questions above. My buddy cannot see the eggs also. I can not see eggs in my observation hive through the glass.

Can you post some pictures?
Jim


Offline BeeIrish

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Re: queen not laying for 4 weeks
« Reply #4 on: August 07, 2013, 08:32:06 pm »
HI Joe

I am based in Co Cork Ireland, there is no brood, lavae or any eggs but I got a frame today with eggs larvae and capped brood and put it in.
I will check it in about 8 days to see if I see any queen cells.
I found them very aggressive today, so I have to wait and see.

Thanks again for the mail and help.

Regards

Denis


Where are you located.  I had a hive to swarm this spring and no queen cell was found.  I went to the guy I usually get queens from.  We checked all his queen boxes and none had a good laying queen.  With the weather we had this spring we figured it was raining when it was time for their maiden flight, and didn't get bred.  He gave me an old queen to put in the hive.  I installed her, in the cage, into the hive.  Checked in a few days, she was not in the cage.  Didn't find her, still had no brood, in a week or so started looking for another queen.  Seems the other queen breeders were having the same luck.   A week or so latter I caught a swarm, was going to try to paper combine them.  Went out to the hive to put paper on top, checked hive one more time, there was worker brood on several frames.  It isn't the queen that my buddy gave me, or no paint now.  But if you don't have one you need a queen, and like Jim said beetles and moths can sense a weak hive.  Good luck, hope you can save them.


Joe

Offline sc-bee

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Re: queen not laying for 4 weeks
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2013, 09:07:45 pm »


Thanks for the mail, there is no brood, lavae or any eggs but I got a frame today with eggs larvae and capped brood and put it in.
I will check it in about 8 days to see if I see any queen cells.


You should know in less than 8 days. Check in 4. If you have multiple cells in 4 days and some are capped and some still open with larvae, destroy the capped ones. Leave the open ones. If they are capped in 4 days they started cells on larvae that were too old and not adequately feed.
John 3:16