Lost Queen

[Stickyfingers]

Think I may have lost queen. Did not see her last inspection seven days ago. Also have not seen her on today's inspections and there are no new eggs or larvae.

What do I do?

 

[VEG]

get yourself a frame of eggs off another beekeeper and put that into your hive if they are queen less they will make queen cells if not they have some sort of queen in the hive.

 

[oliver90owner]

If sudden, I would expect emergency cells to be built.

Is there a supercdure cell in there that you have missed?

 

[Stickyfingers]

get yourself a frame of eggs off another beekeeper and put that into your hive if they are queen less they will make queen cells if not they have some sort of queen in the hive.

There was capped queen cells but I removed them as I went along
Can I move a frame form my other hive in there. Do I just shake them all off and put it in there.

 

[DorsetB]

Did you remove the QCs during earlier inspections or when there were no eggs, etc, ie recently?

 

[Stickyfingers]

Did you remove the QCs during earlier inspections or when there were no eggs, etc, ie recently?

Today. It was only when I got to the end released that there was no eggs.

 

[DorsetB]

Ah! Always check for brood in all stages (BIAS) *first*. You need to observe before acting.

They were building queen cells because they had no queen/failing queen/faulty queen/etc, and you took their last chance away.

See if by any chance you missed a cell which you should leave alone, if not, as previously suggested, a frame of open brood will should allow them to start again.

 

[Stickyfingers]

Ah! Always check for brood in all stages (BIAS) *first*. You need to observe before acting.

They were building queen cells because they had no queen/failing queen/faulty queen/etc, and you took their last chance away.

See if by any chance you missed a cell which you should leave alone, if not, as previously suggested, a frame of open brood will should allow them to start again.

OK Thanks!

 

[VEG]

update your hive numbers as well this will give more info for your answers, oh and you didnt mention knocking down queen cells in the original post. Best to post as much info as you can as it helps with the answers given.

 

[DorsetB]

and get another colony if you can - two colonies is a real help: you can compare activity, status, disease, etc, and you can swap or donate when a situation like this arises, and is really very little extra work (but it is more expense!)

 

[oliver90owner]

Capped queen cells, no queen. Likely swarmed. And now possibly hopelessly queenless.

 

[juliabusybee]

hi DorsetB
just thought I'd commiserate with you and tell that I did the exact same thing a week ago...fortuneately I had just met a really friendly local beekeeper who gave me a frame with a queen cell on it so we slotted this in and she has now emerged. Weirdlly sighted a large percentage of the colony plastered all over the outside of the hive. Maybe they were welcoming the queen back after her drone flight...who knows? Now giving her a bit of space so will look and see in a couple of days to see if there are any new eggs. So what seems like a tragedy and a huge mistake will probably come right in the end....fFingers and toes crossed!
Regards
Julia

 

[aberreef]

Shake all the bees off a frame with eggs from your other hive. If they havent already then they'll make some queens from this

 

[thurrock bees]

i would put a frame of eggs in the other hive into the Queenless hive, as your profile says u have two

 

[Stickyfingers]

Capped queen cells, no queen. Likely swarmed. And now possibly hopelessly queenless.

I don't think they swarmed, there was plenty of space

 

[kathrynat]

You did say that there were capped queen cells, therefore they probably have swarmed regardless of the room available.

 

[aberreef]

You did say that there were capped queen cells, therefore they probably have swarmed regardless of the room available.

Or the queen got squished during an inspection

 

[Stickyfingers]

If sudden, I would expect emergency cells to be built.

Is there a supercdure cell in there that you have missed?

these three appeared last nite. There are two larvae in there. Will these be duds as they put a larvae in there rather than an egg? Also I think there is already a two capped one. Can someone please confirm this the case.

[/IMG]

 

[aberreef]

They can make a queen out of any worker larvae up to 4 days old so should be ok.

My eyes aren't working today (night shifts) but that looks like a sealed cell so that's a good thing. If it hatches then the virgin queen will rip down all the other cells, either way they should still produce a replacement queen. Provided she mates successfully of course