Confused- help needed

[slangers]

I noticed that one of my colonies wasn't queen-right about 4 weeks ago so I purchase a new, mated, Buckfast queen which arrived just 19 days ago. I put her in the hive and checked about 4 days later. There was no sign of her (she was marked) and no eggs. I then added a test frame from another colony.

First chance to check again was today. No sign of marked queen. No eggs or unsealed brood anywhere. No evidence of any queen cells on the test frame. I appear to still have a queenless hive which has no apparent inclination to produce a new queen.

What is happening here and what should I do?

 

[Obee1]

how do you know it was queenless to start with, and were they hopelessly queenless? - did you do a test frame prior to giving them a new queen.
You need to do a second test frame and see what happens.

 

[slangers]

I hadn't seen any eggs or unsealed brood for 2 weeks before I tried to requeen. There haven't been any since then.

 

[snelgrove]

I noticed that one of my colonies wasn't queen-right about 4 weeks ago so I purchase a new, mated, Buckfast queen which arrived just 19 days ago. I put her in the hive and checked about 4 days later. There was no sign of her (she was marked) and no eggs. I then added a test frame from another colony.

First chance to check again was today. No sign of marked queen. No eggs or unsealed brood anywhere. No evidence of any queen cells on the test frame. I appear to still have a queenless hive which has no apparent inclination to produce a new queen.

What is happening here and what should I do?

Probably a virgin running about in the hive your new queen will have been killed on intoduction.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I hadn't seen any eggs or unsealed brood for 2 weeks before I tried to requeen. There haven't been any since then.

So you didn't check to make sure there was no queen in there?

Probably a virgin running about in the hive your new queen will have been killed on intoduction.

How did you introduce her?

 

[enrico]

Also queens do go off lay for a number of reasons. Weather, nectar flow, room, headache! Etc. Etc. 2 weeks is not long enough to 'presume' they are queenless.
Gut reaction? Old queen still in there!
E

 

[slangers]

Off lay for four weeks? Colony on it's last legs.

 

[slangers]

Yes, I did check but I couldn't find one.

 

[Nige.Coll]

Did you see queen cells at any point ?

 

[slangers]

No- never. I was doing weekly inspections so couldn't have missed one

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Off lay for four weeks? Colony on it's last legs.

Yes - queens will

if it's on it's last legs after four weeks
a) not a very good colony to begin with
b) not worth splashing out on an expensive queen.

But You say egg less for four weeks yet you introduced a new queen 19 days ago so the queen had not been laying for less than a fortnight. I've had a couple of hives this year been apparently queenless for longer - they now have BIAS

Did you put in a test frame to determine Q- ?

Again - how did you introduce the new queen?

 

[chrisb]

Also queens do go off lay for a number of reasons. Weather, nectar flow, room, headache! Etc. Etc. 2 weeks is not long enough to 'presume' they are queenless.
Gut reaction? Old queen still in there!
E

British weather... lol such a true word

 

[enrico]

Off lay for four weeks? Colony on it's last legs.

With respect, he said that he had not seen eggs for two weeks before he tried to requeen......that happened four weeks ago. What I was saying is I would have waited longer than two weeks before I requeened, and only after I was sure there was no queen. Sorry I wasn't more precise!
E

 

[oliver90owner]

What is happening here and what should I do?

Simple enough.

First ascertain whether Q-, or not.

Remove queen if present.

Be aware of possible laying workers and keep the bees free of those before the next step.

Then introduce a laying queen.