any advice please

[Bitbybit]

I am a complete novice and I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed. I installed two nucs I bought into two brood boxes and have checked them weekly ever since. I have found the queen in one of them (she is marked) everytime I checked but never saw the other queen. To my untrained eye everthing seemed fine, bees seemed happy and they were busy collecting whenever the weather permitted. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I would make a determined effort to find the other queen but without any luck and I also found a queen cup on the face of one comb. I also noticed that the other hive was much more productive at building up stores. At this stage I was getting worried and I outlined my worries to the forum. I was advised not to worry about a single dry cup and that I should look for eggs rather than worrying so much about finding the queen. This made sense to me and I decided that as a newbe I was worrying too much. Yesterday I opened the hive and started looking at the comb properly rather than at the bees, now I realise that I have no capped brood or eggs!! Have I any options? Could I have a new mated queen? Do I move a frame of brood from the other hive and hope they can make an emergency queen? - is it too late in the year to get a mated queen? Would this just put the other hive under pressure? Do I need to try and buy a new queen? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Oscarmonster]

I would suggest adding a test frame of eggs from your other hive, if they build a queen cell they have no queen, if they don't they you may or may not have a queen and you will need patience.
However if they have been queenless for sometime, the bees will possible be too old to consider requeening and maybe combining with your other hive would be the the best option. But make sure they are queenless before you do.

 

[Bitbybit]

thanks

Thanks Oscarmonster,
If they don't make a queen cell how long should I wait? do queens stop laying for periods of time? My apologies if this is a stupid question.

 

[Oscarmonster]

I'm sure someone more knowledgable will be along shortly.

 

[SunnyRaes]

silly question, and I'm the wrong person to be asking it, but you don't say whether there was worker brood and eggs in your earlier inspections....?

Quantity of stores and bees seeming happy and collecting doesn't indicate brood and eggs, and therefore evidence that there is a queen...

 

[Andy Duff]

silly question, and I'm the wrong person to be asking it, but you don't say whether there was worker brood and eggs in your earlier inspections....?

Quantity of stores and bees seeming happy and collecting doesn't indicate brood and eggs, and therefore evidence that there is a queen...

No, a good question

 

[REDWOOD]

A time line would be good so we can determine how long you hive has not had a laying queen. Seeing no eggs or brood does not mean your hive is Q- what happened to the play cup is it still there or did it develop and hatch ? A test frame of eggs would be good. Just for future reference try to keep records of what you see in the hive, if you see play cups mark that frame with a little drawing pin on the top bar so next time you enter the hive you can determine whether the hive is going to swarm/supersede. It all comes with practice and can be a little overwhelming the first year but stick with us we will help you as much as we can from here, good thing you bought 2 colonies as most including myself started with one.

 

[Poly Hive]

That is assuming they know what they are looking at which is pretty clearly not the case.

A visit from an experienced person to give you some basics is needed to be honest.

PH

 

[Bitbybit]

timeline

I would love to be able to give a timeline but unfortunately I now realise I wasn't looking properly during previous inspections. I concentrated on looking for the queen, new stores and signs of varroa. I will put in a test frame of eggs and make contact with some beeks, maybe I could get some hands on advice,
Thanks everyone

 

[whoosling]

I agree with PH if you can possibly get someone experienced to look and help you that the best thing

 

[drex]

I suggest the same as the above. Contact your local association and they can put you in touch with an experienced beek to come and help you out. This autumn/winter get on a local beginners course.
Get a good book such as Ted Hoopers guide to bees and honey.

From all of these you will learn 5 questions to ask yourself during an inspection.

1. Do they have enough room.

2. Is there evidence of a queen laying at expected rate ( note the "evidence of" and not " find the queen")

3 Is the colony building up OK/ are there queen cells present

4. Any signs of abnormality or disease

5. Have they got enough stores to last until your next visit.

Simple questions, but you need some more understanding and experience to fully understand what they mean, for example how fast should a colony build up?

It becomes second nature in the end.

Get help to get them tucked up for winter, whatever you need to do to get there, and then study during those long months before you can look at them again.

I guarantee that you will enjoy your bees much more next year if you do.

 

[Beeyonce]

It depends on the way you learn really but although Ted Hooper's book is brilliant it can be a bit daunting to the complete novice. I'd suggest 'Bees at the Bottom of the Garden' to give the basics, make contact with your local association and get signed up to a winter study course if one is available locally. Most beekeepers are only too happy to share their knowledge and having a real person infront of you enables you to ask all the questions you want (yes, even the silly ones!) and will really boost your confidence. And this site, of course!