Idle and Elusive Queen

[tizzy]

Hi All,

I have what i think is either a queen that is comming to the end of her laying life or shes just an idle sod lol not a lot of bees on the frames and im buggered if i can find the rascal. Can anyone help with options, im looking for a nuc and also a new queen im really at a loss, as well as being experienced in this dark art ...

johnnie

 

[Poly Hive]

Remove all your combs except for four of brood.

Leave them in two pairs for a good half hour.

Space them so there is as much space between the walls and the first side as you can get. and an equal space from the pairs.

Queen will hide from the light in the middle of one of the pairs.

PH

 

[gavin]

Isn't it the whole colony that is not doing well? I have a few that came out of the winter very weak, and most beekeepers I know also had some like this. Replacing the queen isn't going to help you if you have few bees. Colonies coming back from the edge need more bees rather than a new queen, so nudge them back to vitality by reducing the empty space in the hive, by adding the odd frame of emerging brood from other colonies, or by feeding. Or all of these things.