faulty queen

[beecology]

One of my queens swarmed a 13 days back (old queen). A virgin hatched off in her place, not seen and no eggs.

However, does the fact that there are no capped brood or BIAS in the hive mean that the original queen is a dud - stopped laying?

Should she have left the hive with BIAS as theres only stores and drawn comb left. Im fearful that this hive is now Q- and has no eggs/brood to raise an emergency queen.

Should I wait another week or so to see if the missing virgin starts to lay or will it be to late?

thanks in advance

 

[ijcooper]

Sit tight and stop worrying!

The old queen will have gone off lay before she swarmed, which accounts for no brood now.

And it's still early for the new queen to be laying. Could easily be another couple of weeks.

 

[Roola]

Queens often slow down/stop laying prior to swarming so I wouldn't worry too much. The new queen is a virgin and with the weather as it has been will probably take a while to get out and mated properly, its also very difficult to spot virgin queens as they are much smaller and move quickly like the workers. give her time.

 

[beecology]

Thanks kind sir,

Thought this beekeeping lark was supposed to be relaxing - I end up worrying more about the bees than the mrs!

Was going to join Chesterfield BKA but Derbyshire BKA was closer.

Thanks again

 

[beecology]

Queens often slow down/stop laying prior to swarming so I wouldn't worry too much. The new queen is a virgin and with the weather as it has been will probably take a while to get out and mated properly, its also very difficult to spot virgin queens as they are much smaller and move quickly like the workers. give her time.

thanks - the other virgin (from a spilt a week or so prior) got mated and is laying so I was expecting/hoping the same from this one......Ive always struggled with patience haha

 

[clv101]

A virgin hatched off in her place, not seen and no eggs.

However, does the fact that there are no capped brood or BIAS in the hive mean that the original queen is a dud - stopped laying?

So 13 days ago the old queen left with a swarm - leaving a sealed queen cell from which your virgin emerged, no less than 5 days ago? How do you know a virgin has emerged - did you see the torn open queen cell?

That virgin will only have been taking her mating flight(s) in the last few days depending on weather and you shouldn't expect the new queen to come into lay for another couple of weeks at least. Give her time!

It's strange though that there's no brood at all in the hive, remember the queen cell only takes 16 days from egg to emerging whereas workers take 21 days. It is possible, that the queen came from one of the last eggs to be laid, 8 days later the old queen left, 13 days later takes us to today and 21 days in total, allowing all the working brood to emerge. Drones take a few days longer though. Typically the queen lays right up to 1-2 days before swarming.

 

[beecology]

So 13 days ago the old queen left with a swarm - leaving a sealed queen cell from which your virgin emerged, no less than 5 days ago? How do you know a virgin has emerged - did you see the torn open queen cell?

That virgin will only have been taking her mating flight(s) in the last few days depending on weather and you shouldn't expect the new queen to come into lay for another couple of weeks at least. Give her time!

It's strange though that there's no brood at all in the hive, remember the queen cell only takes 16 days from egg to emerging whereas workers take 21 days. It is possible, that the queen came from one of the last eggs to be laid, 8 days later the old queen left, 13 days later takes us to today and 21 days in total, allowing all the working brood to emerge. Drones take a few days longer though. Typically the queen lays right up to 1-2 days before swarming.

I saw the virgin emerge during inspection, Ive not got the exact date (need to start records) but I think its atleast 15 days ago and the old queen swarmed a few days after that queen had hatched (during a period of heavy rain and I assume both queens were stuck in the hive for a short period until the swarm).

It sounds a complicated affair but it wasn't, ive probably not described it concisely though