aseeryl
New Bee
I put this in as a reply first but , hope no-one minds (apologies if they do) I thought it might work as a thread.
I'll post this as the latest episode in a saga related to this subject.
I gave a small nucleus to a friend with an empty hive about 6 weeks ago. The queen in this disappeared.( It was a virgin and,therefore no action was taken in case it was actually present and none of us could find it). About 2 weeks ago a few eggs were laid and began development. Still no queen so we are thinking that there were laying workers. A frame of brood was donated by a friendly beek and a new queen was supplied by a member of this forum. She put this in in a introducer cage (with a fondant plug). Having returned from holiday she has rung to say that that queen has also disappeared. At the moment we are assuming that she has been destroyed by the colony who see laying workers as their own queen. At this stage in the season it looks like the colony is DOOMED.
Thanks to hivemaker for the bushfarms reference it's most helpful.
Anyway, after I gave her this nuc My queen died (I posted on this a few weeks ago). They did hatch their own queen but it wasn't till a couple of days ago I noticed new larvae have appeared so presumably she started laying last week. I hope they aren't drones too soon to say (they are in ordinary comb cells).
After all that, we were wondering whether to boost the, now, somewhat depleted numbers in my hive and thus winter survivability, whether I should have the bees back or whether these might attack my queen as has been said?
If so how to do it easiest, best and safest. ?Shake them in the grass.
Without wishing to anthropomorphise, it seems a shame to lose them after all the effort, but even more so I don't want to risk losing the lot.
Sorry to be long winded but I'm trying for best advice. Thanks.
PS I would add that the queen is large, frisky and easy to spot and since last week the bees have started to make new wax comb after a long period of indolence. From this i assume normal activity has been resumed.
I'll post this as the latest episode in a saga related to this subject.
I gave a small nucleus to a friend with an empty hive about 6 weeks ago. The queen in this disappeared.( It was a virgin and,therefore no action was taken in case it was actually present and none of us could find it). About 2 weeks ago a few eggs were laid and began development. Still no queen so we are thinking that there were laying workers. A frame of brood was donated by a friendly beek and a new queen was supplied by a member of this forum. She put this in in a introducer cage (with a fondant plug). Having returned from holiday she has rung to say that that queen has also disappeared. At the moment we are assuming that she has been destroyed by the colony who see laying workers as their own queen. At this stage in the season it looks like the colony is DOOMED.
Thanks to hivemaker for the bushfarms reference it's most helpful.
Anyway, after I gave her this nuc My queen died (I posted on this a few weeks ago). They did hatch their own queen but it wasn't till a couple of days ago I noticed new larvae have appeared so presumably she started laying last week. I hope they aren't drones too soon to say (they are in ordinary comb cells).
After all that, we were wondering whether to boost the, now, somewhat depleted numbers in my hive and thus winter survivability, whether I should have the bees back or whether these might attack my queen as has been said?
If so how to do it easiest, best and safest. ?Shake them in the grass.
Without wishing to anthropomorphise, it seems a shame to lose them after all the effort, but even more so I don't want to risk losing the lot.
Sorry to be long winded but I'm trying for best advice. Thanks.
PS I would add that the queen is large, frisky and easy to spot and since last week the bees have started to make new wax comb after a long period of indolence. From this i assume normal activity has been resumed.
