Lost Queen

[Cestria]

I'm very new to beekeeping so forgive my naive questions
A good friend of mine gave me a colony of bees earlier this year with a promise that when the weather got better he would come down and start to show me how to look after them. Well the weather never did get that better so we missed the bees giving the indication that they were about to swarm which they did on 6th May. They ended up in my neighbour's greenhouse so they were easy to collect up. We put them in a brood box close to the existing hive. I've left them alone for a month to let them establish themselves, I've been into them today and I fear I may have lost a queen in the existing hive. The new hive has brood at all stages so I'm confident I managed to collect the queen with the swarm but the virgin queen appears to be lost. There are no signs of any brood, there is capped honey, some pollen and nectar in the brood box but no signs of a laying queen.
I have several questions about what to do now.
Should I wait? It has only been a month since the swarm, could I have a queen that hasn't started to lay and another week or so would give her a bit more time to start
Should I try to take a frame of brood from the new hive and give it to the existing hive? Giving the the existing hive a frame of brood will give them the chance to raise a new queen if there isn't one
Try to reunite the two hives? At present the exsiting hive appears to be quite strong despite the apparent lack of a queen, while the new hive is still fairly weak. If I reunited the two it would make a far stronger colony to end the season going into the autumn.

 

[richardbees]

I was tempted to reply

"I saw the queen in a big red barge on the Thames this afternoon"

but I won't, instead I'll suggest you leave it another week before you think of putting in a frame with eggs as it can take a couple of weeks after hatching before she starts laying.....it's a promising indication that the bees seem quite happy.

 

[VEG]

put a test frame in if there is a queen they wont make queen cells

 

[REDWOOD]

The hive swarmed when the QC was capped It was another 8 days before she emerged and could be 3-4 weeks before she has mated and ready to lay, If there is still no eggs after this borrow a frame with eggs for the other hive and see if the bees make QC

 

[oliver90owner]

Welcome to the forum.

You could certainly check for queenlessness with a frame with eggs and young larvae.

Like as not there is a queen in there as it is only about a month since swarming and assuming you did not lose any secondary swarms (casts), the queen would have emerged about a week after the swarm (the timing of the swarm may have depended on the weather at the time). Now add a few days for the queen to be ready for mating flights and then some decent weather for mating, then time to start laying after mating and we may well be at the present date, so she may start laying soon.

There is, of course, no guarantee that she mated successfully and may eventually start laying unfertilised eggs (drones).

On your next check you may find eggs or polished cells where the bees are readying cells for her to lay in. The test frame would be an option if it appears there is no queen.

Certainly you should not unite until you are sure there is no queen - the test frame would demonstrate that, if queen cells were produced. If an unmated virgin were present she would likely kill your laying queen.

So, be patient but by all means pop in that test frame at the next inspection - it can do no harm.

RAB

 

[Dishmop]

"I saw the queen in a big red barge on the Thames this afternoon"

Mating flight?

 

[MuswellMetro]

i would suggest you combine but we need to find out whther the queen is lost or whether she is stale and unmated

you need to take a brood frame with eggs in from the swarm hive and place it in the old hive

if they do not make swarm cells then you have a stale queen in the hive

so

1) move the hive to the side
2) place a floor on a stand in the old hive postion
3) add a super plus two super frames
4)Queen excluder


place a sheet in front of the hive and a ramp from the sheet to the hive

shake all your bees onto the sheet

and put the empty brood and all the frames on to of the super/QE and add roof etc

look for the queen on the ramp

when all are back in the hive

move just the part of the hive and bees to a temp floor to the side of the original site

in theory (ha ha ha) the queen should be in the super between the two super frames.....

 

[richardbees]

Mating flight?

not in front of Phil the greek!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Bet you someone was hoping for supersedure

 

[Cestria]

Thanks for the answers so far, I would like to think the new queen is okay and will start to show herself soon. I'll have to polish up my skills and track her down now I know I have at least one to find.