Emerging queens

[thebhoy]

Emerging queens....

Have a hive that has swarmed....won't go into the story other than to say my first chance to examine it since Easter and had known it would have swarmed in this time.

Opened it today and 1st frame - capped QC and could see more on the next, decided I would knock 1st one down and, as I hit it, out came a queen running across the frame.
Put frame aside and went to next thinking I would cut these ones out so started, removed 3 on one side and turned frame round just to see another queen emerge and also take off along frame....put that to another side then noticed one I cut out was starting to emerge....had to cross field to car carrying a queen in my hand to find something to put them in.

Got back to hive and another had emerged and was nowhere to be seen.

Checked the frames with queens that I had laid aside, queens were nowhere to be seen....don't know what happened to them but now suspect they may all be back in the hive and soon to throw caste swarms.

I now have two virgin queens at home and 3 QC's that may or may not emerge.

Watching one emerge in my hand at home was surprised to see it had a varroa mite on it but seemed ok...was / is bigger than the other I have that emerged earlier.

Now to try and set up a couple of mating hives to save them going to waste or do a couple of splits.........decisions decisions.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Examine the remaining sealed queen cells which are probably on the point of emerging anyway. You may find that they start to hatch as you look through the hive.
This happens because your blundering around has distracted the ‘warder’ bees that were keeping queens penned in until the colony wanted them to emerge. The bees have a plan which
you are now going to upset! Investigate the unsealed cells carefully using a knife blade or scalpel and, if the queens are mature and ready to go, help several of them to walk out into the hive - the more the merrier! The point is, that you do not know
if there is already a virgin queen (or queens) loose in the hive
so you are making sure by letting the so-called ‘pulled virgins’ go. Having had your fun releasing virgin queens into the hive, you now have to do what it says in Step 5 and carefully destroy ALL the remaining sealed queen cells. Releasing all these queens into the hive at the same time seems to force the colony to select from the available virgin queens and settle down to get her mated.

The above is taken from the attached document.
Have a read of it. REALLY useful

 

[thebhoy]

Cheers Erichalfbee,
that's what I was hoping for originally and left it to run it's course expecting to have had a previous QC Queen to emerge just after Easter, going in today there were numerous QC's that are showing that the queens had emerged and these were what was left.
Now I don't know if the queens that emerged today on the frames are in the hive or elsewhere as I had not put the frames straight back into the hive but onto a 'stand' and couldn't find them when I checked the frames again.

Will put a test frame in next to see what happens.

 

[rockdoc]

Someone has said in a previous post that keeping a nuc box handy in the apiary is a good idea. It is, but a better one is what I call my 'clippee-onee'! An idea invented I believe by the late Frank Taylor, and inherited from my father. Its a three frame brood box with a cover that grips the side of your brood box or super, allowing you to work close to the hive keeping the queen on her frame safe and close. I never go the apiary without it. Might have saved you losing your virgin queens.