How long does a Queenless colony survive?

[Ivor Kemp]

One of my hives last season lost its Queen which was confirmed by the local Bee Inspector in September who said there was no way the colony would survive the winter.

By some miracle it has and the damn workers are actually laying again!

How long can this feasibly go on for?

 

[VEG]

The workers will only lay drone eggs

 

[bump3r67]

Your profile shows you have two colonies. Why don't you unite them. I had the same problem last September. Took the Q- hive twenty or thirty yards away and emptied the bees out. Remove the empty hive from the area and the bees that have been emptied out will return to their original hive position. They will hang around there for a few minutes then hopefully go knocking on your other hives door. Well they will if its close by. I opened both hives and gave a sprinkling of icing sugar to the ladies first just to confuse the girls a bit more.

Worked for me but I'm sure someone will tell you if there is another way of dealing with it

 

[the beehive lodge]

if your other hive has a Q and if she is laying ok can you not brush the bees of a frame with fresh eggs/larve so the Q less hive can start on make up a Q

 

[Hivemaker.]

if your other hive has a Q and if she is laying ok can you not brush the bees of a frame with fresh eggs/larve so the Q less hive can start on make up a Q

They are unlikely to do that at this stage,as far as they are concerned they have plenty of queens.

 

[VEG]

tip them out it is hard to to the first time it happens but its for the best

 

[Arfermo]

When you have a laying worker, ther is almost certainly no way back. Get rid is best.

 

[oliver90owner]

By some miracle it has and the damn workers are actually laying again!

To addresss the question you asked: How long do bees live? About 6-7 weeks? That is, of course, while brooding is taking place. Your bees survived the winter because they were not brooding. Now the workers they will dwindle steadily as the drone population increases and they cannot sustain themselves. Depends on how many bees there are and how much drone brood. Maybe a couple months, if they don't get robbed out.

The only way you are going to keep them going is to keep adding amounts (small, initially) of emerging brood; then some open brood, when enough bees in there to support them, then requeen when they eventually start to draw queen cells.

Like those above, I would certainly not be doing that and would have united at the first opportunity in the season.

In a normal season and perhaps with more than just the one good colony, worth a try for those that are determined not to lose a colony, but better for the other colony if you shift the hives together and then remove this hive after tipping out the bees on a warm day. Ha! - not even many of them at the moment!!

Then make a split later. Probably not a lot of honey this year, by the seems of things.

RAB

 

[Chris Luck]

How long does a Queenless colony survive?

It can be a surprisingly long time, (I asked this question last year to see if anyone knew, if they did they didn't reply).

So, from September with sufficient stores they could still be hanging on in June or even July which is much longer than most people would think. If a colony went "Queen-less" now and had sufficient stores they could possibly hang on until October or even November.

Chris

 

[susbees]

When you have a laying worker, ther is almost certainly no way back. Get rid is best.

There is rarely going to be just one.

If it's a large colony I'd go with Rab's route. The pheromones from open brood will in time turn off the LW ovaries. When they make QC from a frame you've turned the corner.

The get rid makes sense with a small nest or if the colony's in a distant out apiary...shake them out near your other colony.

 

[louiseww]

I had a queenless hive last summer and a weak colony from a swarm, I merged the queenless one withe weak one after first removing all the drone brood and only adding the stores frames to the new hive, I didn't really expect them to get through the winter but they did and after a worrying time in March (I think they superceded and the virgin was slow getting mated) they are okay, still slow, but okay.

 

[Ivor Kemp]

Thanks for all these. Fascinating.