is pollen coming into the hive a certain sign of brood?

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newportbuzz

Field Bee
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
846
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Location
newport co,mayo ireland
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
19 through the winter
hi i recently requeened a farily angry hive which made mince meat of me yesterday. so i had a botched examination. all i really need to find out is if the new queen has been accepted and is laying. i have seen some small amounts of pollen coming in and rember reading somewhere that that means there is brood. i am sure there was only one frame of capped brood in the hive when i added the queen
i can go in by moving hive and wraping up well but it will be fairly distructive in the way of suacide bees. as i took over 100 stings to the gloves yday. they are slightly better temper than before if that adds to the pile of evedince i managed to get the queen release cage out which was empty but thats as far as i got before it started to get silly. so i closed up and walked away.
 
Taking in pollen may be a good sign but....were they taking it in previously?

The obvious bad temper has not abated? That may not be a good sign.

Two seasons ago I had a colony taking in pollen in mid Febrary but were totally broodless. The queen was there (on a second inspection), when I actually searched for her (17th Feb) and I left her to it. One month on (the next check) they were brooding heavily at all stages.

I think you will need to confirm by checking.

Regards, RAB
 
thanks rab i am not sure if they were takin in pollen before. with regards the temper they are a LOT better. they would attack at 3 meters(on aproach) and all pour out the enterance . now they only jump from frames and sting also they follow a lot less before it was 20 mins before last one left me yday it was less than 5.
they are still horribe but a lot less trouble than before


i can go in if needs be but i would like to avoid the stings and needless dead bees as a result. the queen is in there just over a week now.
 
Taking in pollen is simply a sign that they are active. One of our colonies (swarm) resolutely failed to raise a queen this year, and no brood at all - yet brought in loads of pollen, the brood box was rammed with the stuff.
 
Taking in pollen is simply a sign that they are active. One of our colonies (swarm) resolutely failed to raise a queen this year, and no brood at all - yet brought in loads of pollen, the brood box was rammed with the stuff.
didnt want to hear that. thanks tho. better to know than to be happy in ignorance. looks like im gunna get me a stinging
 
didnt want to hear that. thanks tho. better to know than to be happy in ignorance. looks like im gunna get me a stinging

If you have a laying queen then the house bees will be busy feeding larvae.

The devil makes work for idle hands and if they are broodless the hive bees can give off pheremone to the guard bees to attack you.

Although being queen+ is a great help to temperament, workers with a job to do also plays a big part.
 
How long has the new queen been in the hive? From my experience it can take a few days for an introduced queen to start laying and the books say leave a week before inspecting, so after a week you will only see eggs perhaps which may be tricky if you have to rush in for a rapid look-see. Leave another week and the brood will be easier to see and will keep nurse bees busy so less stings.
If the bees are suicidal, it ain't fun and at the end you say to them "bugger you, you bastards" or worse and slam on the crown board making the colony ripe for a lively inspection next time!


If you are Q-, what will you do? There would be no problem in uniting in another week anyway.
 
it was requeened on the 16th so its well over a week but i have been buzy wth non bee related stuff. if the queen is dead then i will unite with one of my colonys and split again next year. i think ill just have to armour up and put up with the stings. a spray bottle seems to drive them down but smoke just pisses them off. (they have good stores) ah well next good day ill have to free up an hour and get it done.
 
I wouldn't bother to unite them if they are queenless. All the bees will be on their last legs and will add nothing to the other colony you unite them to unless the receiving colony is seriously weak. Also, if they are as defence as you say you risk the colony you are uniting them to.

I would inspect and if no eggs are found leave them to it to die out naturally or who knows, perform a miracle and somehow survive. If you find eggs feed them well.
 
you need to bear in mind that it's the old queens progeny that are still inhabiting the hive as the new queen has only been there a week or so.....

if the new queen has successfully been introduced you may not see a real improvement in temperament until it's "her" bees that you are inspecting
 
its a complex story but its not actually the old queens kids that are in the hive.
ill try to quickly explain. this also covers why it would be worth uniting.
i received the hive as a nuc 2 months ago.
went on holiday for a week after installing and leaving feed for the nuc
came back did the first inspection roughly 10 days after instalation found no young brood ,saw queen, they were on 6 frames
this worried me so i kept a close eye on the hive and on the next inspection there was only capped brood and i didnt see the queen.
I thought mabey she swarmed or something had gone wrong.
I preformed a test frame.
The test frame was cleaned out by the bees. ie they removed all brood. So i rang everyone i knew to find out what this could mean everyone was confused and proposed that they might be starving. (they had adequite stores and pollen)
when checking the test frame i also spoted the queen.

i ordered a replacement queen as i wasnt equiped at the time to rear my own one. was told i would recieve the queen mid sept so i had to keep the hive strong till then.
so i gave the hive the flying bees from a stronger hive. i also gave them emerging brood from my other hives.
hence why i want to have my bees back if the queen has been killed.
also since the hive was requeened (due to agression on the old queens part) before i received it at most there was a few weeks worth of the old queens kids in the hive
 
I would be inclined to leave for at least another week before checking again.
If the new queen has only been in there a week then disturbing an angressive colony may make them ball her as she is still very new to them.

The time will also allow the bees to start doing their respective jobs, looking after eggs, brood and gathering which will hopefully 'calm' them down a little.

If all is not well there should be suficient time to combine.....Although I am in the warmer SW, I have a couple of hives that I am looking at carefully and will make a decision about combining in next couple of weeks when thymol treatment is complete.

If all goes well then the colony will settle but one thing I would consider is there enough time for the colony to grow sufficently with the new queen to make it through the winter?
Cheers
S
 
the weather came good today and i got chance to do a quick inspection on the hive today. and great news eggs brood in all stages and capped brood aswell. still angry but that should sort its self out early next year. thanks for the advise everyone.
 
just as an aside, I presume that you are washing your gloves after recieving 100 stings to them??

A puff of smoke applied to the site of the sting asap usually heads off multiple stinging .
Also learn to recognise the mood of the colony your working on.
Increased noise plus the smell of bananas indicates that you have exhausted the patience of the colony and should finish job pdq before it erupts .

John Wilkinson
 
just as an aside, I presume that you are washing your gloves after recieving 100 stings to them??
now i feel like a complete fool. all i ever did was to pick the stings out. never washed the gloves. any advise on what to use to mask the pheremones?

they are rubber gloves as i was advised against the leather ones because of my asthma

ill have to rember about the bannana smell aswell.
live and learn
 
Rubber gloves; put them on your hands and then wash them in your bucket of washing soda with the squirt of washing up liquid in it to cut down on scum.
 
:willy_nilly::willy_nilly::D:D:D
The bees go bananas you go ape !!

John Wilkinson
 

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