How many queen cells do you leave and why?

[itchyhives]

Personally I tend to leave 1 QC although there has been exceptions to this. I have Sixty Years with Bees by Donald Sims as my current loo reading material and he mentions pulled virgins, i.e. virgins that have emerged after they been removed from the hive. Wouldn't want to try that with only one QC, interested actually if many people have used this technique much but suspect that is another thread.

 

[Torq]

Torq,

Apologies for this clumsy revision, but I have not been able to edit my original post. It should have read:

With respect for your local customs and your unique ecology, I still don't get it.

You have a single hive of bees. You are prepared to risk 1 prime swarm and up to 5 casts from that colony. This would almost certainly make your single colony unviable.

You say that you have culled 10 QCs and left 6. So where's the logic in your actions ? Why not leave all the QCs?

While Queens will indeed fight to the death in nature, it seems odd to deliberately manage a colony to provide the potential for multiple mass exodus and/or a "battle royal" of the virgin Qs.

My advice would be to bring in some new genes by requeening from outside your immediate vicinity, with a better-tempered strain. If, as you say, all the bees in your area are "angry", it may be the result of allowing that characteristic to run riot through the management customs which you articulate. It may be worth trying something else.

On the number of QCs, I would recommend two for a single colony (insurance) and would want to select unsealed cells, ideally, where evidence of royal jelly and healthy larvae can be seen.

To repeat, bee-proliferation and beekeeping are not the same thing.

Apologies for the varroa, by the way...

Just a bit of an update. As I was at work on Thurdsay my uncle inspected the hive with the 6 queen cells. One had emerged, he released another 3 and destroyed the rest. There have been no casts so it looks like Kate has beaten Pippa to the throne!! Won't be opening the hive till around the 12th and hopefully there'll be eggs.

Also I must update my info,if this queen mates I'll have 3 Q+ colonies. Most of the local bees are aggressive as they all come from the same supplier. I'll probably requeen 2 of them with known calm queens from a breeder in another part of the country.


On the subject of Varroa, apology not necessary. After all we did give you Graham Norton!

 

[Teemore]

Torq - From experience of my own bees and the others I have been working with, their temper was really bad during the tail end of May and into June as the Apple blossom and most other forage tailed off. Temper has noticeably improved over the past two weeks though but one of my hives is marked for a replacement Queen. I suspect that the bees i work with are not too distantly related to yours...

Back on topic - RAB, I have to agree that it seems sensible to bank a Queen or a QC in a Nuc and to just leave one charged cell in the 'parent' colony. I didn't quite have the luxury of doing that earlier this year. I went to do an AS and discovered that i had lost a prime swarm. QCs were all capped so two were deposited in a Nuc and two left in the parent colony - As they were all capped I couldn't check that all were properly charged and so I took the precautious route. This suited me as i planned to increse my colony numbers this year. Both Nuc and hive now have marked laying Queens and the Nuc is going into a full hive this week. As a cautionary note against using two capped QCs, I am confidant that I also lost a cast from the 'parent' hive because I left the extra QC.

 

[djg]

itchyhives,

I had my first experience of a "pulled" VQ this weekend.

I removed one of my two ripe QCs from a hive around midday, started to incubate her, and the virgin hatched in a cage just 3 hours later. A day closer than I thought to looking at a potential swarm/queen conflict, so a narrow escape! I must learn to count!

Now VQ transferred to a ventilated plastic tub with 3 attendants, a dab of fondant and a drop of water. Will introduce her to a mating hive of feisty bees from another tomorrow hive which I also extracted yesterday (probably in a cage - overly protective ?) and hope that her mother's placid nature comes through in her brood by the season's end.

Fingers crossed that her sister turns out as well in the main hive...exciting stuff !

 

[djg]

Just a bit of an update. As I was at work on Thurdsay my uncle inspected the hive with the 6 queen cells. One had emerged, he released another 3 and destroyed the rest. There have been no casts so it looks like Kate has beaten Pippa to the throne!! Won't be opening the hive till around the 12th and hopefully there'll be eggs.

Also I must update my info,if this queen mates I'll have 3 Q+ colonies. Most of the local bees are aggressive as they all come from the same supplier. I'll probably requeen 2 of them with known calm queens from a breeder in another part of the country.


On the subject of Varroa, apology not necessary. After all we did give you Graham Norton!

Torq,

Sounds like it worked out just as you had hoped. Onwards and upwards!

Would you recommend thymol or oxalic to treat a Norton infestation ? And is there an "off-buttton" for varroa ? If only it were so simple .....

 

[Torq]

Torq,

Sounds like it worked out just as you had hoped. Onwards and upwards!

Would you recommend thymol or oxalic to treat a Norton infestation ? And is there an "off-buttton" for varroa ? If only it were so simple .....

After the initial disappointment of my first colony surviving the winter but loosing the queen to be replaced by a drone layer, I've now the prospect of 3 Q+ colonies. Don't expect any honey crop this year but have learned a lot and looking forward the the future.

WRT the "Norton infestation" don't worry! I'm sure he'll eventually be supersceded by a home grown queen!!