advice sought on queen-less hive

[ratcatcher]

ok, I have a national hive that I checked 11 days ago, that had a used open queen cell (old queen had already swarmed on 4th may)
I checked again 5 days ago, but failed to see a queen or any new eggs, so presume this hive possibly queen less, once we get a break in the weather I'll be checking again, if we are minus a queen, I see I have two options, but want advice on what's better

take a frame of eggs from another hive an insert as a test frame?

or

I have a very small cast swarm that I collected 12 days ago, if this has a mated queen, could I introduce her?? maybe in a queen cage, or if they are queenless, would they welcome her with open arms so to speak?

 

[enrico]

I would say you still have to give her time. But it depends on if you can wait! Won't do any harm to try a frame of eggs?
If you ARE. Queen less then just combine the cast through paper, however if there is a queen in there they will just swarm again probably!
E

 

[oliver90owner]

The thing about uniting collected swarms is the health issue. They should be kept separate and basically quarantined, as far as possible, until such time as you are confident they are disease-free.

 

[ratcatcher]

I would say you still have to give her time. But it depends on if you can wait! Won't do any harm to try a frame of eggs?
If you ARE. Queen less then just combine the cast through paper, however if there is a queen in there they will just swarm again probably!
E

Im really not in any hurry, so I'll check when the weather clears, and then give how much longer if no visual queen/eggs?

I can see the point on the disease, if thats the case, I also have a cast swarm of bees with queen from same hive?

 

[VeronicaDribblethwaite]

With more than a single hive I’d be tempted to wait a little longer. I did an artificial swarm last month and it was just over three weeks before I saw any eggs from the new queen. Queen cell in the ‘new’ hive had hatched but when doing weekly inspections I’d not seen the new queen or evidence of any eggs/brood. Went in last Sunday (over 3 weeks since queen cell hatched) thinking that I was going to have to move a frame of brood across from my other hive to develop another queen. However this time I saw eggs in a couple of frames and the queen made herself visible. Glad I waited a little longer.

 

[beeno]

Hi ratcatcher,
You are 17 days from emergence, or your queen is rather, with a nice warm weekend coming up it should happen. Good luck.

 

[ratcatcher]

cheers all, I'll try to remember to stick my hands in pockets and wait,lol

 

[Hawklord]

It can take 2-3 weeks after hatching for a queen to start laying. Depending on the weather, if the queen cell was capped when the old queen went, it would have another 8 days before hatching. A good indicator that there is a queen present and on the verge of laying is polished cells.

 

[enrico]

It can take 2-3 weeks after hatching for a queen to start laying. Depending on the weather, if the queen cell was capped when the old queen went, it would have another 8 days before hatching. A good indicator that there is a queen present and on the verge of laying is polished cells.

Deleted....sorry

 

[Marton]

Can too many stores delay laying?

Just 4w since leaving 1 uncapped QC but when I looked my AS seemed to be full of nectar pollen and capped stores so I have put a QE and super on in the hope some nectar is moved up.

Was that wise or foolish?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drex]

Sensible probably. If cells in BB are all filled with stores then HM has nowhere to lay. Nectar takes up more room than honey. One question which should be asked at every inspection " is there enough space for queen to lay". Queen can easily take that long to come into lay. But time is getting on. Mind you the weather is bad. I would soon think about a test frame. Do you have any free cells in BB. Are they polished?

 

[ratcatcher]

Can too many stores delay laying?

Just 4w since leaving 1 uncapped QC but when I looked my AS seemed to be full of nectar pollen and capped stores so I have put a QE and super on in the hope some nectar is moved up.

Was that wise or foolish?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

you may get more answers marton if you start your own new topic/post, rather than hijacking mine