Colony losses, surviving queens

[LeaBees]

I have a situation where one colony dwindled down to not enough bees to sustain itself (was at an out apiary and farmer moved them a few times whilst we were away on holidays so I imagine stress etc), but the queen is still around (2022 Queen) and was laying well into winter. What are my options for the queen? Try to introduce her to another colony that looks like it has a drone laying worker? Try to keep her alive until remaining colonies get strong enough to split? This year all colonies seem to be well behind in terms of building up.

 

[jeff33]

Kill her? If she was viable you would have brood and young bees. She is obviously not good enough to sustain a colony hence why they dwindled over winter.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Squash

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

ditto

 

[Ian123]

I have a situation where one colony dwindled down to not enough bees to sustain itself (was at an out apiary and farmer moved them a few times whilst we were away on holidays so I imagine stress etc), but the queen is still around (2022 Queen) and was laying well into winter. What are my options for the queen? Try to introduce her to another colony that looks like it has a drone laying worker? Try to keep her alive until remaining colonies get strong enough to split? This year all colonies seem to be well behind in terms of building up.

Depends a bit if you have time and inclination to play about. Pinch a frame of sealed brood and introduce to the laying worker hive with the tiny colony. Ensure it’s not a DLQ find her if it is!! Put the queen in a cage spray the rest with air freshener or deodorant. Sqish if you’ve not got the patience both are likely doomed if no action is taken.

 

[steve1958]

I have a situation where one colony dwindled down to not enough bees to sustain itself (was at an out apiary and farmer moved them a few times whilst we were away on holidays so I imagine stress etc), but the queen is still around (2022 Queen) and was laying well into winter. What are my options for the queen? Try to introduce her to another colony that looks like it has a drone laying worker? Try to keep her alive until remaining colonies get strong enough to split? This year all colonies seem to be well behind in terms of building up.

If you have a colony with a Drone laying Queen then it's worth changing her for the Queen in the dwindling colony.

Maybe remove the drone layer and combine the two colonies.

 

[ericbeaumont]

was laying well into winter

What is her laying pattern now?

 

[LeaBees]

What is her laying pattern now?

Not enough to make a determination. Literally a handful of bees left.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not enough to make a determination. Literally a handful of bees left.

Doomed then - definitely a duff queen with the colony dwindling away, she's no use to man nor beast

 

[Ian123]

Not enough to make a determination. Literally a handful of bees left.

With so few bees there’s likely not going to be any pattern to judge. I always get the odd small nuc and have a couple this season. Mostly when united with say a dlq hive or the like they preform the same as any other. It’s the number of bees influencing her egg laying not the queen herself.

 

[rolande]

With so few bees there’s likely not going to be any pattern to judge. I always get the odd small nuc and have a couple this season. Mostly when united with say a dlq hive or the like they preform the same as any other. It’s the number of bees influencing her egg laying not the queen herself.

Exactly this.

If time and interest permits then it's well worth trying the experiment - we've saved what later proved to be good queens which found themselves in similar situations by getting them introduced to mininucs initially; to get them back into lay before later introducing into nucs on standard combs.

It *is* a faff, but it's a learning experience and beats throwing a £50 note away because it might be a fake.