Advice on a single sealed QC discovery

[J F]

Why are there drones stuck in the queen excluder - were these trapped in the super ?

I thought that initially but they were head up so I'd guess not. Odd though. Unless maybe I had the queen reducer gate on the hive entrance.... I moved the quueenright lot to a anel plastic hive. Could've been a bid for escape? I'll have a better look tomorrow.

 

[pargyle]

I thought that initially but they were head up so I'd guess not. Odd though. Unless maybe I had the queen reducer gate on the hive entrance.... I moved the quueenright lot to a anel plastic hive. Could've been a bid for escape? I'll have a better look tomorrow.

Yes .. something needs a look - sounds like an ill-fated escape bid ..

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes .. something needs a look - sounds like an ill-fated escape bid ..

Looking for food?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

if you put a queen excluder over the entrance then yes, the poor buggers were trying to find a way out

 

[J F]

if you put a queen excluder over the entrance then yes, the poor buggers were trying to find a way out

If I did it was inadvertent! These anel hives have a hinged reducer gate thingy (technical term) on two entrances. I would say it's possible I accidentally dropped both.

Edit, actually I'm sure I left one wedged at an angle and closed the other.

 

[J F]

Mystery solved. The bump the hive received closed off both entrances to the drones. So yep, escape bid.... Everyone else seems to have been fine will inspect later if it's not torrential...

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

That’s very neat. I’d live to see the video if you do get to find it.

Found it. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0247323

This study in 2021 includes 18 videos showing a range of bee behaviours. 'After oviposition (S1 Video), the egg remains motionless until the larvae hatch. As workers successively move as deeply as possible into the cells, eggs may be pushed down towards the cell base (S2 Video).'

You get a feel for that in the S2 video. The direct link is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247323.s002

Fascinating videos.

 

[J F]

Gave the hive a good once over. The queenright split is fairly low on bees but not desperate and still a reasonable amount of stores. Obviously most of the bees have drifted back. It on the same apiary only a couple metres away if that. I only turned the entrances so they are opposing.

Queen still happy and laying. Added a bit of sugar syrup for a temporary boost though as they weren't very active at the entrance, I suspect most of the foragers have gone back to the original hive.. Frames are a bit fat still but I'll sort all that out when they are under less pressure. No QCs which is the main thing.

Parent queenless hive was working hard, lots of activity. Had a quick peek and comb being drawn well on the new frames. Should have emerged or be close to it now so fingers crossed for the next few weeks.