hello folks

[marjoriedelaney22]

At the moment I am in a position of great uncertainty. My two hives both had one new queen cell to hatch around the 8th of August but I can see no sign of a queen laying in either hive. Both hives have bees working away strongly to collect pollen and are making honey and stores but I cant find the queens and time is marching on. Any advice to give me ? (In Central Scotland)

 

[Sutty]

A bit more detail would help:
Are these your only hives?
Were they queenless when cells introduced & why?
Were the QCs unsealed, recently sealed, or about to emerge?

 

[Swarm]

At the moment I am in a position of great uncertainty. My two hives both had one new queen cell to hatch around the 8th of August but I can see no sign of a queen laying in either hive. Both hives have bees working away strongly to collect pollen and are making honey and stores but I cant find the queens and time is marching on. Any advice to give me ? (In Central Scotland)

Welcome to the forum.
Are we talking post swarm? We are talking roughly three weeks so too soon to write them off. What exactly is the situation?

 

[marjoriedelaney22]

A bit more detail would help:
Are these your only hives?
Were they queenless when cells introduced & why?
Were the QCs unsealed, recently sealed, or about to emerge?

yes these are my only two. It was one very big hive, then I found the queen dead in the hive so uncertain as what to do and fearful that they would swarm given the amount of queen cells they were producing, I spit it into two hives and kept a queen cell in each. The queen cells were sealed and I thought they were about to emerge but not sure on that aspect. Thanks for answering me.

 

[Erichalfbee]

At the moment I am in a position of great uncertainty. My two hives both had one new queen cell to hatch around the 8th of August but I can see no sign of a queen laying in either hive. Both hives have bees working away strongly to collect pollen and are making honey and stores but I cant find the queens and time is marching on. Any advice to give me ? (In Central Scotland)

Give them another two weeks and look again. Three weeks plus might well be a little early even though it's often described as the ideal interval. How has the weather been up there? Have you had warm sunny spells in the second and third week of August?

 

[Sutty]

Mine have certainly taken longer than that, longest was 5 weeks I think, post swarm.
If you know anyone nearby who can spare a frame with eggs you could try a test frame.
Hope at least one sorts itself out!

 

[Swarm]

yes these are my only two. It was one very big hive, then I found the queen dead in the hive so uncertain as what to do and fearful that they would swarm given the amount of queen cells they were producing, I spit it into two hives and kept a queen cell in each. The queen cells were sealed and I thought they were about to emerge but not sure on that aspect. Thanks for answering me.

Did you check the cells had emerged? If there is evidence they emerged you will at least know there is/was a queen in there. OK, she has to mate and return safely and she has had every chance of that, I saw a nice, fat drone by a hive entrance today and he wasn't being molested.

 

[Belgianbeekeeper]

If you ever later on try this again,leave them a few cells,and no that won't cause swarming,normaly the first one that hatch will sting the remaining q cells.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

normaly sometimes the first one that hatch will sting the remaining q cells.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you ever later on try this again,leave them a few cells,and no that won't cause swarming,normaly the first one that hatch will sting the remaining q cells.

Depends how strong the colony is. I wouldn't bet on it unless they are small in which case introducing a mated queen is far better

 

[Sam G]

We were in a similar situation post swarm back in May with one of our hives. It was 3 weeks before we confidently said they had a queen and another 3 weeks after that before we were confident we had eggs, so 6 weeks in total.

 

[Belgianbeekeeper]

Depends how strong the colony is. I wouldn't bet on it unless they are small in which case introducing a mated queen is far better

Never had it happening,we always leave 2 or 3 bubbles in a hive that was used for q-breeding,otherwise we always as you say lead in a mated one,but,easy talking since w've always plenty as spares and different strains of bees have different swarm "itches" ours hardly ever,as excample,once they were put on renson,only 3 out of 20 hives needed bubble removing for good 10 days and than they were over it as well,once early august they got off renson,nothing,6 frames of the renson,the bees and the q on two lvl high nuc,what's left of the major hive gets a new q,they all seem happy with that,never swarm mood.So early season minor,late season zip.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Never had it happening,we always leave 2 or 3 bubbles in a hive that was used for q-breeding,otherwise we always as you say lead in a mated one,but,easy talking since w've always plenty as spares and different strains of bees have different swarm "itches" ours hardly ever,as excample,once they were put on renson,only 3 out of 20 hives needed bubble removing for good 10 days and than they were over it as well,once early august they got off renson,nothing,6 frames of the renson,the bees and the q on two lvl high nuc,what's left of the major hive gets a new q,they all seem happy with that,never swarm mood.So early season minor,late season zip.

Quite a few of us, having tried a method of swarm management that involved leaving multiple queen, cells have found, to our cost, the colonies swarmed anyway. Maybe it's a UK thing?

 

[Belgianbeekeeper]

Quite a few of us, having tried a method of swarm management that involved leaving multiple queen, cells have found, to our cost, the colonies swarmed anyway. Maybe it's a UK thing?

ow,no it's not a uk thing,it's mainly a strain thing,and selective breeding towards less swarm "itches".W've peeps enough having what's called in flemish,before and after swarming,it's what keeps us busy go swipe them.Last year we had a sweaped colony that would have swarmed every 3 weeks if we would have let them,full blood alleycats,lol,but,they were masters in pulling bubles so fitted perfectly as organised q-breeders,lol.And with the renson,you pass by the main swarming season anyway,sparing a lot of checking up.And multiple q-cells,i bet you pretty well understand the difference between an organised leaving two bubles next to eachother,where first born will straight away kill off the one next door or just let the bees do their thing and have 15 bubbles or so spread through the hive,major difference.

 

[BeeAdmin]

Welcome to the forum Marjorie! How are your bees now?