am I being impatient

[suedavies0117]

on may 9th I recieved a nucleus, 5 frame with uncapped queen cell which were placed in a national brood box with syrup given.
two weeks later I had a swarm leave the hive and land on the post nearby. we caught these bees and placed them in a nuc box with 2 frames stores and some foundation and syrup given

there were some capped queen cells seen in the original hive which were destroyed as it was believed that a new queen should already be present there.

the nuc swarm was, one week later put into a 2nd national brood box with foundation and feed given
inspecting both beehives this week there are stores but no brood in either hive - I am hoping the original hive will have new queen laying in the next couple of weeks but shouldn't the 2nd hive (swarm) be seeing brood by now (3 weeks later) or is it possible the queen there was lost when collecting the swarm

am I being impatient or should I be worried, I live at high altitude in Snowdonia (1400 ft) so the weather here is colder, windier and slow to get going in the spring - foxgloves etc are just coming into bud now and thistles started flowering this week

I did not close off part of the brood boxes to make the area smaller as I was not told to do this and there is still syrup both feeders but plenty of stores so I am not going to give them any more unless the weather is bad over a prolonged period over the next few weeks

any advice would be very welcome



any advice would be welcome

 

[alldigging]

So the nucleus was sold to you with or without a queen?

Maybe the bees have swarmed with a new virgin queen on 23rd May? She would have mated within 2 weeks-ish and then start laying at some point after that but can take weeks.

The QC left behind would have been to make a new queen in that hive. Did you check again after a few days to see if they made more?

How many frames of bees have you actually got in each box?

 

[oliver90owner]

She would have mated within 2 weeks-ish and then start laying at some point after that but can take weeks.

Just entirely inaccurate. I will leave it to the OP to learn more from somewhere else.

Oh, and by definition it was not a nucleus.

Must be the altitude that is affecting the behaviour of females. Doesn't seem like there would be any males there, so likely never got mated. Good luck. You're welcome.

 

[alldigging]

Play with the dates there

http://www.thebeeyard.org/queen-rearing-calendar/

(estimate when the queen was just hatched from an egg - 4 days old, ) to get a range of dates when things should happen.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Beekeeping/Queen_Bee

http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/queenrear.html
Weather delays in mating will add days to the process, after 3 weeks delay, virgin queens may start to lay unfertilized eggs.

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/graftingtimesheet.html
Day +??
It is not possible to be exact as to when a virgin becomes fully fertile, but is usually within 6 days of emergence.
Day +??
Mating is always a variable time, being dependant on weather, but if it has not happened within 14 days of emergence then a deterioration process sets in and any mating that does take place may be less than perfect.

So assume the max two weeks and then you're not rushing the next bit of waiting to see eggs.

Which of course are harder to see than larvae and saves disturbing the hive too soon.

 

[ratcatcher]

any advice would be welcome

yeah, stop killing queen cells and believing things are there

 

[suedavies0117]

my mentor killed the queen cells, I have been following their advice as a new beekeeper, I have approx. 2 1/2 frames of bees in each hive at the moment - this was sold to me as a nucleus with queen cell instead of laying queen so she could be born and mate here on site - there were drones in the hives when I last looked but not lots

there are lots of bumblebees here and other insect wildlife, butterflies etc so I assume that honeybees will also survive happily here

any advice other than that already given in this thread would be helpful

 

[Erichalfbee]

any advice other than that already given in this thread would be helpful

Print one of these and keep it in your bee box to use whenever you need to. Really handy.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Oh, and this

 

[Duchy]

can you get 2 frames of brood from another beekeeper, and stick one in each hive? The bees will make queen cells if they need them.

 

[Teemore]

A little too late to benefit you but I would advise you never to buy a nuc that doesn't contain a mated and laying queen. Other posts contain good advice.

 

[Rich0909]

I would avoid inspecting too much at present as new queens can be prone to flying off. I would take a quick look at a central comb from each hive - if the cells in the brood area are empty and have a polished / shiny look then it is more likely you have a queen who will start to lay soon, if the brood area has been filled with syrup / nectar then it is less likely - but only more or less likely neither is any guarantee.
If a queen is present, when she does start laying there is a possibility she will be a drone layer if not mated or poorly mated but only time will tell.
If it turns out you are queenless I would re-combine and see if anyone locally has a queen available - beeks often have spares at this time of year. Start with the nuc supplier!

Rich.