cant find the queen

[kendo]

hi im very new to bee keeping and was thrown in at the deep end!!
well the bees are working,the honey comb is capped,some brown some white,but look as i may ive yet to find the queen? the mate who gave them to me said he got the the bees from a tree when his bees swarmed ive had them about6 weeks but not seen the queen

 

[enrico]

Don't worry, it is an art! Make sure you know what eggs look like. If you have eggs the queen was there in the last three days! There are methods for finding the queen but experience is the winner.
Generally brown caps mean brood and white caps mean honey. Are you using a queen excluder?
Have you any hands on experience with other beekeepers? Sounds like you could do with a tour round a hive or two!
Best of luck
E

 

[kendo]

well when i looked about 3 weeks ago i saw little black commas the comb was the white
but now only a few white combs and lots of brown ones ive give them lots of room ie brood box a super then crown board,they only seem to use the middle frames in the brood
box and the same in the super box??

 

[enrico]

Still a bit confused! Eggs are Little white flecks in the bottom of a cell. They start off dead straight and over three days will go into the lying position. All comb will turn colour with use but the cappings that they put on the top tend to tell you what is inside. The brown is porous for grubs, the White is wax for sealing honey. You still didn't say if you were using a queen excluder. Sounds like you gave them a super a bit early, they needed to get a good start on the brood box before adding a super. How many frames of capped brood do you think you might have?
E

 

[kendo]

i think there is about 6 capped frames when i got the bees my mate said to give them room he said brood box then a super queen exclude crown board then the lid

 

[will]

Check the pollen barrier it may need moving out

 

[kendo]

whats one of them?

 

[will]

If you don't know what the pollen barrier is then I think you need some help, it's we're the pollen is stored and queen won't normally lay outside it, hence all the brood is in the centre if you move the pollen barrier out one frame then she has room to expand

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

i think there is about 6 capped frames when i got the bees my mate said to give them room he said brood box then a super queen exclude crown board then the lid

Why is the queen excluder above the super? I think you definitely should seek some help.

 

[bpmurray]

hi im very new to bee keeping and was thrown in at the deep end!!
well the bees are working,the honey comb is capped,some brown some white,

The brown isn't honey - it's brood, the babies. This will be in the broodbox which is on the bottom. On top of this you have a queen excluder, designed to exclude the queen from the supers which go above (super = superior = above). These contain the honey and will be white. There will be some honey in the brood box too, but you want to make sure that the queen doesn't go into the supers since baby bees don't taste as good as honey.

but look as i may ive yet to find the queen? the mate who gave them to me said he got the the bees from a tree when his bees swarmed ive had them about6 weeks but not seen the queen

Don't worry about it - I have 2 hives with new queens which emerged about a month ago and I haven't managed to find them. There are 2 things you need to worry about for now:

• Are there eggs? These are tiny little white things like grains of rice (except much smaller) and they can be difficult to sport for the beginner. You'll often see a blob of brood (the sandy-coloured sealed cells) in the middle of a frame, surrounded by larger unsealed larvae, surrounded by smaller and smaller larvae, with eggs outside these. Turn the frame a little in the light - direct sunlight into the bottom of the cells will show them clearly. If there are eggs, you had a queen laying less than 3 days ago, so you can probably assume all is well in that area.
• Are there queen cells? These indicate that they are seriously considering swarming and you do not want that. These cells are long and look kind of like a peanut shell.

I think your mate actually did you a disservice leaving you in the lurch like that. Contact your local beekeeping association and ask them about beginners courses. Keeping bees is much more than simply hoping they'll do OK.

 

[Obee1]

Btw if you are looking for eggs getting the sun over your shoulder and shining into the cells is a real help - but be careful. Hold the frame over the open brood box incase the queen is on there and falls off. Once you know what you're looking for its easy! You could use a little magnifying glass with light attached if it's not sunny. Really cheap off fleabay.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pocket-Ma...722513?hash=item3d13b65911:g:u-gAAOSwe7BW0wI8