emergency Q cells?

[prana vallabha]

yesterday i was called out to a hive of mine as it had some how been swivelled around , as i was putting it back together i pulled out a brood frame and saw an emergency Q cell i checked the rest of frames quickly and found 3 more ( no sign of queen ) . so i do not know what caused the hive to be in the condition ...... but as early in the season is this hive doomed ..... the nearest hive to this is about 30 feet away ........what to do ?

 

[peteinwilts]

sounds like the queen died or has failed.

the chances of a successful mating in the next few weeks is extremely slim.

you could add a new queen, but you would need to be sure you don't have a virgin or two roaming around in there, but is too cool to inspect to find out.

Under 'normal' situations, you would perform a regular inspection when it is warm enough, and combining, or adding a queen then.

There is not a lot you can really do until the weather warms. I would let them take their chances.

 

[Thymallus]

Not sure what temps you guys inspect at, but had a reasonable quick look through mine yesterday. Nice and warm, about 9oC sunny, no wind, bees flying. All was fine.
Worth waiting for next warm day, check, possibly destroy any queen cells (chances of getting mated are very low) and re-unite to another colony.

 

[prana vallabha]

This is what I thought ,,,, many thanks ,,,, shame as was a new Q last August

 

[drex]

Not sure what temps you guys inspect at,

I usually abide by guidance of not inspecting unless temp is over 15 degrees. I only ever open the hive for a valid reason, and curiosity is not one of them. Opening and inspecting are two separate activities in my book. For example I open for oxalic dribble in January, but it is a very quick in and out

 

[rockdoc]

When you say 'no sign of queen' its not clear how good a look you had. Was there any brood? If you follow some of the advice above you may be making a hasty decision. You need to be absolutely sure the queen is not there, and I would not be doing that sort of full bore exercise at this time year anyway (still too cool where I am).

 

[prana vallabha]

as i had to put hive back together , i had a quick look , hence i saw Q cell , but there was about half a brood frame on each side of 2 frames with capped brood ,but due to weather i did not look to long for the queen .......

 

[Thymallus]

I usually abide by guidance of not inspecting unless temp is over 15 degrees. I only ever open the hive for a valid reason, and curiosity is not one of them. Opening and inspecting are two separate activities in my book. For example I open for oxalic dribble in January, but it is a very quick in and out

If I waited for temps over 15oC where I live in North Yorkshire I'd probably have to wait until late June/early July before the first hive inspection.
I went through half of my hives yesterday, definitely for curiosities sake. I was curious as to whether my queens had come through the winter and were laying well, also curious to see if I had any drone layers. Check on stores left and feed accordingly.
I'm sorry to say I don't put much credence by the 15oC (or whatever) rule. I've been doing it for years and it doesn't seem to affect the bees.

 

[rockdoc]

nor do I. As for the OP, Id leave it a bit longer and when the weather allows go for a good search before introducing or combining. my OHO of course.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Around here (as in the OP's neck of the woods most probably) 'tis not really the weather for inspecting (9 degrees, 15 or whatever) at the moment, even though we are getting the occasional few hours of sunlight and relative warmth to get the bees flying. Chances of any drones around are next to nil I would say. If there's capped brood there was a laying queen there a little while back (needed eggs or young larvae for EQC's could be the upset of the hive has done for the queen, who knows. but not a lot of choice I'd say but to do a quick inspection at the next warmish opportunity - but what are you going to do? wait a week or two (no real haste is there and hopefully the weather will be a little more condusive to a more rigorous inspection to confirm absence of queen and unite.

 

[Eyeman]

(no real haste is there and hopefully the weather will be a little more condusive to a more rigorous inspection to confirm absence of queen and unite.

Just had a thought!
What is the earliest you can use a 'test frame ' to help reassure you that the colony is queenless before uniting?
Alec

 

[Tom Bick]

yesterday i was called out to a hive of mine as it had some how been swivelled around , as i was putting it back together i pulled out a brood frame and saw an emergency Q cell i checked the rest of frames quickly and found 3 more ( no sign of queen ) . so i do not know what caused the hive to be in the condition ...... but as early in the season is this hive doomed ..... the nearest hive to this is about 30 feet away ........what to do ?

Any more information regarding this bit of information do you think someone has been/something messing with your hive?

 

[Tonych224]

as i had to put hive back together , i had a quick look , hence i saw Q cell , but there was about half a brood frame on each side of 2 frames with capped brood ,but due to weather i did not look to long for the queen .......

Was the Q/Cell Charged i.e. Egg / Royal Jelly or they old ones from late autumn or play cups ? I would want to be 110% sure before I took and further action. I agree let the bees decide their corse of action as nothing much you can do at this time.

 

[prana vallabha]

i agree with letting the bees sort it out for now ,,,,the cells were capped and some brood was also emerging ,,,,and to what or how the hive became twisted havent a clue

 

[Excession]

Any more information regarding this bit of information do you think someone has been/something messing with your hive?

Ditto.

I assume you haven't strapped your hives together and a deer has scratched itself against the hive? But how long could it have been like this?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ditto.

a deer has scratched itself against the hive?

Deer are non-existent in this part of Wales....
Could the QCs been there from last autumn?

 

[prana vallabha]

i was by the hives about 6 days before this incident and the hive was not twisted then ......

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Emergency queencells are a sign that something is wrong tie-in with the possible time the swiveller was around. The chances of a queen coming good aren't worth worrying about. I would squash the q.cells before the queens emerge and move the hives together and unite in a couple of weeks time once the hives are close enough. A test-frame could be used to confirm q-

 

[jonnybeegood]

Emergency queencells are a sign that something is wrong tie-in with the possible time the swiveller was around. The chances of a queen coming good aren't worth worrying about. I would squash the q.cells before the queens emerge and move the hives together and unite in a couple of weeks time once the hives are close enough. A test-frame could be used to confirm q-

Maybe a beek that lost a queen decided they needed one & stole yours? Then hurriedly put the hive together again & left in a hurry, you never know these days.

 

[MJBee]

Wall to wall sunshine and +16C here today so my 4 hives in the garden got their first inspection of 2015.

2 hives are strong with 5 frames of BIAS and plenty of honey and pollen (gorse)

1 hive is OK but weak with 2 frames of BIAS 3 empty frames were changed for drawn comb containing stores.

4th hive has the same problem as the OP. 3 frames of capped worker brood, no larvae and no eggs. There were 4 queen cells, all capped and containing larvae or partially developed queens. All were removed.

At the moment this hive is about 3M from hive 3 (the "OK but weak" hive) so I will move it closer over the next few days and unite on the next good day.

The hive has not been disturbed since OA between Christmas and New Year, and the brood pattern is good on the remaining capped worker, so what has happened to HM I know not. She was a home bred 2014 Queen by the way.