Drone layer & superseding already?

[M_lo]

Hi all,
I'm in Yorkshire and new to beekeeping and I'd appreciate any opinions.

I opened up my hive for the first spring full inspection last week. The colony was strong, plenty of bees, loads of nectar and capped honey. But the only sealed brood were drones. There were very few grubs and 1-2 full frames of eggs (sitting nicely at the bottom of the cells).

I suspected a drone laying queen. A friendly local beekeeper helped out by supplying me with a frame of new eggs, so we put them in the hive and then hunted out the old queen.

The thing is that the queen we found wasn't the same one as I had in the hive at the end of last year (I saw her in September).

So the question is when was she superseded, this spring or last autumn? Is she the drone layer or is she a new queen from this year that has been mated recently (this might explain the break in the laying pattern).

Cheers

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

The thing is that the queen we found wasn't the same one as I had in the hive at the end of last year (I saw her in September).

Can I ask how she looked different

 

[M_lo]

Last years queen was well marked with blue. This one has no trace of blue on her. Also she looks much smaller than I remember.

 

[Queens59]

Blue does have a habit of wearing off - I haven't found HM since she was marked last year!! Could she have lost weight over winter?

 

[drstitson]

if very strong it suggests that whoever is there has been laying well this spring.

perhaps HM decided lots of drones were needed and had just started laying worker brood again????

 

[oliver90owner]

Dr S is correct.

Does it really matter when she superceded, if she is now laying drone brood?

I would doubt you have a superceded queen this spring. Not impossible, but you need to count back to see when it may have happened.The date of initiation of supercedure will be well long ago, too early for Yorkshire, even.

Welcome to the forum, BTW

RAB

 

[M_lo]

No it doesn't really mater when she was superceded. I was just wondering if it was possible that it happened this spring.

Do the queens really start laying exclusively drone and then revert back to workers?


thanks for the welcome, its good to be here.

 

[Teemore]

If you had a few cold nights it could have put HM off lay for a few days.
Drones = 24 days from egg to hatching, workers = 21 days from egg to hatching. Your inspection may (and this is a big 'may') just have coincided with the interval between the last of the workers hatching and the few days leading up to the drones hatching...

 

[oliver90owner]

I was just wondering if it was possible that it happened this spring.


Do the count-back. or just read my reply again. Sorry, but said it all.

RAB

 

[drstitson]

"If you had a few cold nights it could have put HM off lay for a few days.
Drones = 24 days from egg to hatching, workers = 21 days from egg to hatching. Your inspection may (and this is a big 'may') just have coincided with the interval between the last of the workers hatching and the few days leading up to the drones hatching..."

precisely what i was intimating at - a strong colony suggests she got off to a good start this spring - perhaps too good hence the desire for drones - due to 24 vs 21 days drone brood will persist longer ie be over-represented and may block laying space (think NHS bed blockers leading to cancelled ops) in a store bound BB. queen probably started laying again once first spaces reappeared in brood - say 4-6 days ago - hence lack of middle aged brood (ie uncapped older larvae).

just an idea.

 

[M_lo]

Oh, yes I see. That does make a lot of sense. Well I'll leave things well alone for a bit and see now the latest lot of fresh eggs develope.

Thanks for the advice.