Does size of Queen Matter

[Jaytee]

I have a newly mated queen of no more than 2 weeks; I marked her last week but noticed that she was much smaller than the queen in my other hive. Does the size of the Queen matter or is it normal for some to be smaller than others and it won't affect her performance. I was a bit worried as there hadn't been any eggs or brood in the hive since 3rd May so I know the small amount of brood in the hive is hers but there were already 2 sealed queen cells and 4 unsealed which I've removed. Do you think this indicates that she is a weak queen and will probably need replacing or that hasn't she had enough time to get going yet.
Will be interested to read all your thoughts.

J

 

[REDWOOD]

There are some small queens that do perfectly well but generally a larger queen is more prolific, she might be small because the bees are not feeding her as they sense there is something wrong with her hence the queen cells as the bees are trying to supersede her, where they supersedure QC ?

 

[susbees]

Size of the thorax matters...abdomen will get larger as she comes into full lay. Logical that number of ovarioles and hence eggs laid will be greater up to a point with a larger abdomen.

 

[REDWOOD]

I have just read your post again and they must have been supersedure QS as if they where swarm cells the queen would have left the hive with a swarm when the QC where capped

 

[Jaytee]

There are some small queens that do perfectly well but generally a larger queen is more prolific, she might be small because the bees are not feeding her as they sense there is something wrong with her hence the queen cells as the bees are trying to supersede her, where they supersedure QC ?

There were 2 sealed cells, 4 unsealed cells with larvae at various stages and several cups all over the frames so I doubt if that means supercedure. There was a small amount of brood but all laid in a good pattern so I'm keeping fingers crossed that she hasn't got into full lay yet but will check later this week weather permitting.

 

[REDWOOD]

let us know what you find next week, and have a look at this it might help you in the future
http://www.wbka.com/pdf/a012queencells.pdf

Beekeeping is not an exact science but the more we do it the better we become

 

[iand]

I have had Q's in the past quite that were quite small & athletic, one in particular was a cracking Q good egg layer & long lived, & headed my highest yielding hive @ that time. Through the range to a large one which would have won any Q beauty contest, but she was neither use nor ornament.
Size isn't everything.
Unless you know it came from an emergency cell, then you are on a sticky wicket.
New Q's are smaller until they have been fed up to their full breeding size, could be a valid reason they are not doing this.
Some bees are just not happy with any Q, I have had them in the past which were in a permanent state of always trying to rear a new supercedure Q. I gave them a new non related proven Q. They accepted her, she got brood rearing under way, great I thought then started the supercedure process again. Constantly waiting for a Q to mate all season, they ended up the size of a nuc. I gave up & shook them out in the end if I recall correctly.
I hope you have better luck.

 

[Jaytee]

Thanks for all replies. It may be that she just hasn't had time to get going since emerging after the artificial swarm so I'll give it a while yet but keep a close eye on things and re queen if absolutely necessary. My two hives have performed very well so far this year after being artificially swarmed. I took off 75lbs of honey from 3 supers on Friday which I was more than happy with considering the weather and lack of queen in one of them. 2 supers from the main hive and 1 from the queenless hive; there is still 1 super of uncapped honey to come off of the queenless hive so they've continued to work hard in spite of it all.