Is this normal brood?

[CliffDale]

I bought in a queen last month for a queenless hive. She was introduced carefully by holding her in the queen cage for 3 days in the hive and then allowing the bees to get to the fondant to release her.

http://a.imageshack.us/img838/8468/dscf6064.jpg

[IMG]http://a.imageshack.us/img714/1619/dscf6067r.jpg


Comments appreciated please.

 

[Friar Tuck]

Looks like drone brood to me. but i'm sure someone with a little bit more knowledge will confirm

 

[CliffDale]

I think its all drone brood. I just wanted a second opinion.

I went through the hive today and couldn't find the queen. I will have a more thorough look tomorrow.

Cliff

 

[johna]

Drone brood.If all your brood frames look like this - you've got a drone laying queen-possibly not mated properly.

 

[Midland Beek]

I would guess that your colony was never queenless at all and that the queen you got for £30 was killed on introduction.

 

[oliver90owner]

Simple question many (possibly) would like to know; Was this bought-in queen marked and if so, how?

RAB

 

[CliffDale]

The queen was marked with a hardly noticeable blue .

I didn't see a queen in the last inspection but it was very quick as the weather was quite poor, (also I forgot my glasses)!

Tomorrow I will do a more thorough search.

I accept that if there is no queen it was a risk I took.

I'm hoping to find the queen tomorrow as this makes it an easier fix. If it is a laying worker, I'm seriously stuck as what to do.

 

[RoofTops]

Looks for eggs not the queen to begin with. If there are lots of eggs, one per cell, the queen is there and is a drone layer. If there are no eggs or larva then she has probably expired.

 

[SixFooter]

I requeened 2 colonies last week, but I dont think either queen survived.
One colony has a few queen cells, the other doesnt, but no eggs and no sign of the marked Queen. Also, the colony with the Q cells has gone back to being as nasty as it was after the Q left with a swarm in spring.
Would I stand more chance trying again now? i.e. with them both hopeless?

 

[Tom Bick]

SixFooter one of the hives you re queened and you suspect has rejected the new queen has a few queen cells are they from eggs after you removed the old queen or eggs from the new queen?

From my limited experience of queen introduction a low number of times now is to first remove the old queen if present and leave the colony 3-4 days to start to make queen cells then remove any queen cells and then introduce the new queen.

the problem that can happen as I understand it is that when we remove the old queen the bees will start to make queen cells within a few hours and when we introduce the new queen we are not able to recognise the cell at such an early stage but the bees know they are raising a queen and are more likely to reject the introduced queen and continue with the queen cells.

 

[Hivemaker.]

So the new queen came from a queen breeder/ supplier that does not check the brood pattern of there mated queens to ensure they are mated,how unusual.