2019 Queen

[chipper]

A new record for me...
A 2019 Supercedure Queen laying for about a week....Seen yesterday...6th April
When I went to replace the apparently failed colony with an overwintered Nuc.....Heaven only knows where she found the drones ....
Went ahead with the replacement and took the new Queen with her progeny back to the Nuc apiary...So I can see how she does....

 

[jeff33]

I already have a fair few drones in my hives. Time will be the test to see if she managed to mate properly though.

 

[chipper]

Yes....! That's why I went ahead and replaced her with an expensive Danish queen...
She deserves every chance so she has been removed to my Nucs Only apiary for monitoring...
The latest Queen mating I ever had was Oct 1st...And she turned out to be excellent at honey production and didn't swarm....Though rather testy....!

 

[jeff33]

Fingers crossed for her to live up to the expectations!!

 

[oliver90owner]

Yes....! That's why I went ahead and replaced her with an expensive Danish queen...
She deserves every chance so she has been removed to my Nucs Only apiary for monitoring...
The latest Queen mating I ever had was Oct 1st...And she turned out to be excellent at honey production and didn't swarm....Though rather testy....!

I don’t think ‘latest mating in the season’ has much to do with this time of the year? You will be lucky if she is not a drone layer at this time of the year. When did she emerge?

 

[For want of a better word]

Yes....! That's why I went ahead and replaced her with an expensive Danish queen...
She deserves every chance so she has been removed to my Nucs Only apiary for monitoring...
The latest Queen mating I ever had was Oct 1st...And she turned out to be excellent at honey production and didn't swarm....Though rather testy....!

Where did you get an expencive danish queen from this early in the season?
Greece?

 

[Poly Hive]

Is it not more likely to be a 2018 sup queen that has only just been seen? I know of a genuine sup that lasted 18 months so it is quite possible.

PH

 

[madasafish]

Is it not more likely to be a 2018 sup queen that has only just been seen? I know of a genuine sup that lasted 18 months so it is quite possible.

PH

I have identified at least two superscedure queens this year: laying as well. As there are about 10 drones flying and the weather has been foul, 2018 for sure.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Found a new supercedure queen today.... saw her on the same frame..... actually next to the old lady!
They tried to supercede last year but tried again in the warm snap earlier this year.......she's nicely mated and laying like a train!
I removed the old lady with a couple of frames as she's always been so calm.

 

[chipper]

The new Queen wasn't laying at the previous inspection...So I am certain she has mated in March...The Danish Queen was overwintered in a Nuc box..The late mated Queen occurred after the colony was found to have swarmed on Oct 1st....Old queen found in swarm...No eggs or brood in original colony..

 

[iann41]

When I read the original post my first thought was supersedure. I still think this for a number of reasons.

It was a little early in the year for a Queen to be produced, mated and laying. I'm not saying it can't happen, just very unlikely even with good weather.

I suspect the supersedure happened late Autumn and you just didn't notice it. I think most people would have.

The new queen could have also had a couple of brood breaks during the late winter early spring resulting in you not seeing any eggs. This has happened to my garden hive where she laid during the good weather early on in the year, then during the colder periods stopped completely for 2/3 weeks.

 

[Poly Hive]

The queen was not laying. Err.... ever heard of a brood stop?

My money is on a sup.

PH

 

[chipper]

I had looked at this colony in the weeks preceding and had noted it as Potentially Queenless...No eggs, no brood.. No visible Queen although behaviour was OK....As all other colonies had been racing ahead I decided to Requeen with the Nuc....Assuming IF a queen was present she would now only turn Drone layer...
These colonies are in one of the warmest parts of the U.K.
I only put the post up because I was so surprised she had found drones to mate with when I hadn't seen any on the wing since last autumn...
Sometimes the seemingly impossible is possible....!
Maybe she will turn Drone layer anyway....!

 

[oliver90owner]

Observation is important. New unmated queens do not usually start laying for some weeks after emergence. They, of course, are drone layers. Also, there needs to be a period of sufficiently warm conditions a few days before a new queen starts to lay (after mating).

Only a few days needed, after she starts laying, to determine if she is mated or not. Adequate mating early in the season is yet another problem in fickle UK weather conditions.