thundercat
New Bee
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2010
- Messages
- 39
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Stockport
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 2 Double Brood + 1 Single Brood + 1 Nuc
I inspected the hives yesterday (I only have 2 on double brood boxes). One of them was perfectly fine, but the other had lots of Q cells (many of which were "meant" so I took them off). One frame had three sealed queen cells, so I removed this frame and put it in a nuc box.
The hive is a double brood box with two supers. The bees had a lot of work to do early in the year, as some of the frames in the brood box and nearly all the frames in the supers were just foundation. But they drew those out and have been filling them in (but nothing is sealed yet).
I looked through the boxes three times, but I could not find the Q. There is evidence that she was laying 2/3 days ago, and there is still room for her to lay. Another piece of information (which may or may not be relevant), is that last year, this hive had laying workers, so the population of drones is a bit on the high side (and they just seem to be hanging around on frames eating honey).
Given that I couldn't find the Q, here's what I did. I put the frame with the sealed Q cells in a nuc box (the plastic ones that Fragile Planet sells) with the bees that were on it, and added two unsealed frames from the supers. In all cases, I just dragged all the bees that were on the frames into the box. I've isolated this nuc box near the hives, but I've not left it open to prevent robbing. If the Q is still in the original hive, then I'll find evidence of laying in the original hive when I next inspect the hive (so the Q in the nuc box is a bonus). If the Q isn't in the original hive, then I potentially have a replacement Q in the nuc box. Obviously she has to have her mating flight, but fingers crossed the weather will be ok... Obviously I don't know the exact date that the Q cells were capped.
Could I have done things differently? Any advice?
The hive is a double brood box with two supers. The bees had a lot of work to do early in the year, as some of the frames in the brood box and nearly all the frames in the supers were just foundation. But they drew those out and have been filling them in (but nothing is sealed yet).
I looked through the boxes three times, but I could not find the Q. There is evidence that she was laying 2/3 days ago, and there is still room for her to lay. Another piece of information (which may or may not be relevant), is that last year, this hive had laying workers, so the population of drones is a bit on the high side (and they just seem to be hanging around on frames eating honey).
Given that I couldn't find the Q, here's what I did. I put the frame with the sealed Q cells in a nuc box (the plastic ones that Fragile Planet sells) with the bees that were on it, and added two unsealed frames from the supers. In all cases, I just dragged all the bees that were on the frames into the box. I've isolated this nuc box near the hives, but I've not left it open to prevent robbing. If the Q is still in the original hive, then I'll find evidence of laying in the original hive when I next inspect the hive (so the Q in the nuc box is a bonus). If the Q isn't in the original hive, then I potentially have a replacement Q in the nuc box. Obviously she has to have her mating flight, but fingers crossed the weather will be ok... Obviously I don't know the exact date that the Q cells were capped.
Could I have done things differently? Any advice?
