Adding new queen

[beepig]

Hello again,
Its all happening for me this new bee year. After losing my my first colony this spring it would appear that i have another week colony.
Although too early to open i am thinking of adding a new queen at some point.
1. Is this advisable?
2. I sit and watch regularly and compare activity between my two existing colonies as often as i can, and given that we are experiencing a goodly amount of sunshine at the moment, the air chills off remarkably quickly.
I have noticed that although a number of bees are foraging the activity is minimal compared to my other colony just five feet away.
3. What would you recommend i do

 

[drex]

wait - and see what they are like when you do a proper inspection.
Activity varies tremendously between my hives, but is not a certain indicator of any problem.

 

[Finman]

.
First what you can do is to lift inner cover and peep, how many seams the colony occupyes.

If the colony has nosema, bees' gut is not in condition. When I have added a frame of emerging bees from strong hives, 60% of cases start to make normal brood.

In bad cases new bees become sick too and a queen get nosema.

Varroa is present allways. It may be the reason too.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Following finman's comment; if they are down to just a couple of seams of bees it might be a good idea to pop them in to a snug poly nuc dummied down to just a frame more.
I rescued a similar colony coming through winter last year and got a good crop of honey too.

 

[alldigging]

Put the inspection board on for a couple of days and then look at it.

Take a photo and post it here.

 

[midnight sun]

Following finman's comment; if they are down to just a couple of seams of bees it might be a good idea to pop them in to a snug poly nuc dummied down to just a frame more.
I rescued a similar colony coming through winter last year and got a good crop of honey too.

Good idea.
Just done that with one of mine that I was worried about. Only a handful of bees left. but saw the marked Queen. Dummied down to 3 frames, poly nuc. insulation and managed to put frames of store right next to either side of them with enough room to lay should the queen be thus inclined. That took place on Saturday. On Sunday, there was much more activity with some pollen going in. Fingers crossed. Sometimes it's worth the risk of a quick manipulation (Ooh..err missus!) to attempt to save a colony, as they would be doomed possibly if just left to their own devices.