Inspection Min temps
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My bad...upon further checking, it appears that the bacterial infection is often secondary to the virus. If I had thought about it properly, I would have realised what I was saying was wrong....because doctors don't prescribe antibiotics for colds. Duh!
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OP
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Hi Guy's ...To update, hoping for some good advice 
Opened up yesterday National on double brood, objective to locate queen clip and mark, spent an hour plus looking for her, took the advice here and additional advice got.
Moved top brood box about 10 foot away hoping many would fly back to original site allowing for easy inspection , and hoping as I was told, she should be up in this box, went through it twice, each frame, then went through the bottom box once, each frame.
Was cross eyed by the end trying to spot her amongst at times the layers of bees. Didnt smoke at all as previously found this only makes them layer/bunch up even more on the bottom of the frames as they go into preservation mode.
Anyway, as stated despite careful checking couldn't find her
Plenty of new eggs lying flat in base of cells and incredibly healthy strong colony , good drone population, and large amount of healthy brood capped, no sign of any queen cells.
Added a super to give more space and distraction and also removed two full capped frames of brood and added to a weak polynuc nearby, replacing with 2 frames of undrawn foundation in the centre of the top brood box.
Maybe she wont swarm, last years newly mated queen raised after losing the original queen through swarming.
Valuable lesson learnt... never again will i leave , should/could in hindsight have easily found her whilst on single brood box when numbers were lower in March ... Ahhh ..
Only copped 2 stings to the hands during whole exercise , they were incredibly well behaved but mood changed in last 10 minutes and the pinging started, wouldn't blame them !
Look again in a week ? leave a bit longer before repeating the search.
Now what the hell to do..... ???
Opened up yesterday National on double brood, objective to locate queen clip and mark, spent an hour plus looking for her, took the advice here and additional advice got.
Moved top brood box about 10 foot away hoping many would fly back to original site allowing for easy inspection , and hoping as I was told, she should be up in this box, went through it twice, each frame, then went through the bottom box once, each frame.
Was cross eyed by the end trying to spot her amongst at times the layers of bees. Didnt smoke at all as previously found this only makes them layer/bunch up even more on the bottom of the frames as they go into preservation mode.
Anyway, as stated despite careful checking couldn't find her
Plenty of new eggs lying flat in base of cells and incredibly healthy strong colony , good drone population, and large amount of healthy brood capped, no sign of any queen cells.
Added a super to give more space and distraction and also removed two full capped frames of brood and added to a weak polynuc nearby, replacing with 2 frames of undrawn foundation in the centre of the top brood box.
Maybe she wont swarm, last years newly mated queen raised after losing the original queen through swarming.
Valuable lesson learnt... never again will i leave , should/could in hindsight have easily found her whilst on single brood box when numbers were lower in March ... Ahhh ..
Only copped 2 stings to the hands during whole exercise , they were incredibly well behaved but mood changed in last 10 minutes and the pinging started, wouldn't blame them !
Look again in a week ? leave a bit longer before repeating the search.
Now what the hell to do..... ???
Obee1
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Why is it so important to find her? You know she is there as freshly laid eggs. Is it because you want to clip her?
Finman
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.opened a hive and looked a queen an hour in cold weather. ... What to do?
Call a doctor
Call a doctor
OP
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.
God help us, some people just do not know how to relate to others, put them behind a keyboard and they assume a different persona !
Whatever happened to the friendly approach regardless as to whether the OP is or is not a " Master of the Universe " beekeeper
The temperature was 16 degrees and hives are sheltered completely so no wind chill factor. So maybe I was not as daft ( and I can be ) as the legendary Finnish beekeper who does no wrong, or has not ever erred
Obee, yup that was the plan, will be away in June for two weeks and will not have a stand in to examine for me, so wanted ( as i want to anyway going forward ) to clip and mark all queens to avoid her flyin off with a large compliment of my bees, if ( when ) I miss a QC or mess up.
God help us, some people just do not know how to relate to others, put them behind a keyboard and they assume a different persona !
Whatever happened to the friendly approach regardless as to whether the OP is or is not a " Master of the Universe " beekeeper
The temperature was 16 degrees and hives are sheltered completely so no wind chill factor. So maybe I was not as daft ( and I can be ) as the legendary Finnish beekeper who does no wrong, or has not ever erred
Obee, yup that was the plan, will be away in June for two weeks and will not have a stand in to examine for me, so wanted ( as i want to anyway going forward ) to clip and mark all queens to avoid her flyin off with a large compliment of my bees, if ( when ) I miss a QC or mess up.
OP
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Dear Mr. Finman
Leaving aside the concept of calling a Doctor to asses my medical sanity ( or lack thereof )
What sage advice could you offer me on the above outlined scenario ( Or anyone else please )
Thanks
Yours Sincerely
Mr. Novice Beekeeper
Leaving aside the concept of calling a Doctor to asses my medical sanity ( or lack thereof )
What sage advice could you offer me on the above outlined scenario ( Or anyone else please )
Thanks
Yours Sincerely
Mr. Novice Beekeeper
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She was probably crawling around on the side walls while you were scouring the frames.Get used to bee behaviour: when you open a hive, listen to the noise they make and any fanning they may do. If you have two boxes to inspect, step back and see where all the noise is coming from. The one making all the noise and running around is the one that doesn't have the queen in. After that, inspect the bottom box first. It will get more bees in as foragers return so it will become harder to find the queen the longer you take. If you can't find her, split the combs into pairs. The queen prefers to be in the shade and you will find her between the pairs of frames. You can open them like the leaves of a book.
Be sure you know where the queen is before you move frames into another box. If she is on the frame you moved and there is a queen in the nuc, they will kill her and you'll have a queenless hive.
Also, don't take so long over your inspections. If you can't find her in a couple of minutes, don't chase her back and forward through the hive unless you REALLY need to see the queen. You rarely need to anyway.
