pbh4
House Bee
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2010
- Messages
- 172
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Hinckley, Leicestershire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 0
About 20 days ago I did an artificial swarm which did not go quite like the text books say in that most of the bees ended up in the split with the queen cell - they did not fly home. The AS with the queen on the original site continued to make QCs.
12 days ago the bee inspector visited. He confirmed that all was well but commented that the AS colony looked weak (4 frames of bees). We destroyed the QCs. We saw the queen and brood including eggs. (left 1 QC in split)
6 days ago the AS colony had only 2 frames of bees. queen not seen. brood in all stages including a whole side of a frame with eggs, many standing on their ends. (Still a sealed QC in split)
Yesterday the AS colony has only 2 frames of bees. Quite agitated. Different sound from usual - a quite roar if that makes sense. No young brood. A few big grubs and a frame of sealed brood. Queen not seen. Nothing but empty cells where the eggs had been last week. (QC now uncapped in split)
So ... It looks to me like the old queen has left with a small swarm leaving behind a queenless colony with no hope of raising a new queen. I suspect the eggs/young grubs died because we had some cold nights and very few bees to keep them warm. Fortunately the split is teeming with bees over 11 frames and has a virgin queen so I think we can recover.
The question is what to do. I am inclined to put the queenless colony on top of the split using newspaper and let them raise the brood above the QE and supers. I can't use a test frame to confirm they are queenless because I have no laying queen! But is it safe if it is above the QE?
Wise advice welcome
Paul
12 days ago the bee inspector visited. He confirmed that all was well but commented that the AS colony looked weak (4 frames of bees). We destroyed the QCs. We saw the queen and brood including eggs. (left 1 QC in split)
6 days ago the AS colony had only 2 frames of bees. queen not seen. brood in all stages including a whole side of a frame with eggs, many standing on their ends. (Still a sealed QC in split)
Yesterday the AS colony has only 2 frames of bees. Quite agitated. Different sound from usual - a quite roar if that makes sense. No young brood. A few big grubs and a frame of sealed brood. Queen not seen. Nothing but empty cells where the eggs had been last week. (QC now uncapped in split)
So ... It looks to me like the old queen has left with a small swarm leaving behind a queenless colony with no hope of raising a new queen. I suspect the eggs/young grubs died because we had some cold nights and very few bees to keep them warm. Fortunately the split is teeming with bees over 11 frames and has a virgin queen so I think we can recover.
The question is what to do. I am inclined to put the queenless colony on top of the split using newspaper and let them raise the brood above the QE and supers. I can't use a test frame to confirm they are queenless because I have no laying queen! But is it safe if it is above the QE?
Wise advice welcome
Paul