A/S - No queen, eggs or brood

[nonstandard]

Yesterday I inspected the parent hive from an A/S I performed a month ago (14/04).

The bees are in good temper and are bringing in the pollen. I didn't spot the new queen, not in itself an issue, however there are no eggs, larvae or brood of any kind. What I do have is a fair proportion of polished cells which I am taking to be a good sign.

I know that a virgin queen will often wait till all the old brood has hatched before commencing lay, what I want to know is if I drop a test frame in now might it delay her longer, should I play safe and wait another week or do I run the risk of ending up with laying workers?

I have 2 other Q+ colonies to call on and another A/S where the Q should be mating any day now.

 

[lake28]

Hello im in exactly the same boat as you with two hives , although i saw a smallish queen in one of the hives, its interesting you mentioned that the new queen wont lay untill all the brood is emerged whys that ?.
I had the bee inspector round and he said that i needed to a/s on my one and only hive,so carried out that plan, now with three hives, old queen going strong in original hive with currently 3 supers and 2 new hives that had about 5 or more Q/C in each that was 3 weeks ago and currently in same position as you , im going to a swarm prevention meeting at local association today so will ask the question and keep you posted regards neville.

 

[plumberman]

Wait: assuming you did the AS at the open QC/Just sealed stage - virgin would have hatched about a week later, so at least another week to wait and see. IMO polished cells that they are not depositing nectar in is a very good sign and I would put some reasonably serious money on there being eggs there in a week.

 

[nonstandard]

Thanks p-man the polished cells are slap bang in the centre of the frames where you would expect the eggs/brood to be so it's fingers crossed for another week.

Neville, I'm not sure where I read it but I think it was on this forum from an experienced beekeeper, I'll try to find it.

 

[Tom Bick]

I don’t see no harm in a test frame as you have other hives.

 

[lake28]

HI i went to meeting today and put the question to them and their recommendation were to wait another week at least , if still nothing try a test frame as pl man recommends, hope this helps neville new bee

 

[Poly Hive]

There is a misapprehension here.

The virgin is NOT waiting for brood to hatch. She is maturing herself to the point she is ready for her drones.

Given that a test frame to reassure you will do NO harm at all and certainly not delay her flight.

Patience is required here.

PH

 

[thurrock bees]

ive noticed in my hives where there is a V Q that when they are polishing the cells and moving/using up the honey stored there, they are getting ready for her to start laying.

I would leave it another week and then put a test frame in.

 

[JohnnyD]

Whats an A/S ?

JD

 

[the beehive lodge]

A/S

thats just what i was going to ask then the penny dropped Artifical Swarm
I HATE Abbreviations too

 

[oliver90owner]

lake28,

Standard A/S and 'old queen in the original hive' is not synonymous.

Your hive may yet swarm this season, or you may have meant old queen in new hive on origial position.

RAB

 

[nonstandard]

A quick update,

I inspected on Friday and still no queen in sight and no eggs; I have now put a frame with plenty of eggs in from a Q+ colony in the same apiary.

I also looked in the other A/S colony in the same apiary there are no eggs in there either but it is only two weeks since she emerged. What there was in there were lots of queen cells that had been pulled down, many more than the original two that I left. However this was the colony that the flying bees refused to move hives, they stayed with the parent colony 3ft from the old site rather than going to the new hive on the old site. they did move eventually when I made the second hive move a week after the first which I assume is when they decided that they didn't need all those queens.

 

[lake28]

lake28,

Standard A/S and 'old queen in the original hive' is not synonymous.

Your hive may yet swarm this season, or you may have meant old queen in new hive on origial position.

RAB

Hi again thats correct old queen in new hive on original site. I tried test frame no queen cells made and i have seen the queen now , she is small but not mated but this has been 5 weeks now and bees are filling brood space with necter and a bit of pollen.
Not sure what to do now as i have 2 hives in this position from original A/S, i think the bees got caught out with the cold and windy weather.
Would it be best to remove the virgin queen and replace with a shop bought mated one ? cheers for advice

 

[oliver90owner]

this has been 5 weeks now

Not sure what the 'this' is. Capping time, a week or so to emergence, all reduce the five weeks.

RAB

 

[lake28]

Hi RAB i carried out the A/S 5 weeks ago, there were sealed queen cells on frames, 28/29 april lucky for me my original queen was still there so have one hive still queen right. lake28