Lost Queen?

[newtobee]

Hi, I inspected the hive last week and didn't see the Queen but that's nothing to worry about. However, yesterday again no sign of the Queen but also no sign of eggs or larvae. I think I have lost her and am thinking of buying a new Queen. Is that the correct thing to do? What else might be the cause?

 

[enrico]

Others may say yes but I say be patient. They do go off lay, I would give her at least another week. It is a beekeepers worst worry......I am queenless, but it happens less often than you think. Just check for brood in the super in case you have dropped her in there by mistake! Easily done if you forget to turn a queen excluder over when you put it on the super when inspecting!
E

 

[Finman]

Others may say yes but I say be patient. They do go off lay,

That does not happen if they get food from nature.

But there must be queen cells then.

 

[bpmurray]

If the queen really vanished, the workers should have created a queen cell (or many), so it seems odd that she went with no reaction from the workers.

 

[alldigging]

Hi, I inspected the hive last week and didn't see the Queen but that's nothing to worry about. However, yesterday again no sign of the Queen but also no sign of eggs or larvae. I think I have lost her and am thinking of buying a new Queen. Is that the correct thing to do? What else might be the cause?

How long have you had your bees? Have you seen eggs and/or the queen/capped brood previously?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'd go with enrico's advice.
North Somerset....not too far, weatherwise, from me.
Weather has been dire with little or no foraging possible and some of my boxes are low on pollen with little new brood.

 

[newtobee]

Many thanks for all replies - I've had bees for a year now and the Queen was new last year. There was larvae a few weeks ago but definitely none now either in the brood box or super. When inspecting yesterday I went back over the frames looking for queen cells but didn't spot any.

 

[LimeStone]

Hi all - great first post on here from me:-

I installed a commercially bought nuc last Saturday, making up the frames to 10 in total
Didn't actually catch sight of the queen then, as was keen to get them installed added a 4 pint feeder in an empty super above
massive activity since, and decided to check on things yesterday (day 5) as it's now bad weather and didn't want to miss the window
Still didn't see the queen and couldn't see any eggs or larva. Plenty of sealed worker brood some eating out of their cells, some sealed drone cells
no queen cups
Two questions:
1) how do I confirm presence of a queen?
2) how often can I open up the hive to check?
thanks all

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi all - great first post on here from me:-

I installed a commercially bought nuc last Saturday, making up the frames to 10 in total
Didn't actually catch sight of the queen then, as was keen to get them installed added a 4 pint feeder in an empty super above
massive activity since, and decided to check on things yesterday (day 5) as it's now bad weather and didn't want to miss the window
Still didn't see the queen and couldn't see any eggs or larva. Plenty of sealed worker brood some eating out of their cells, some sealed drone cells
no queen cups
Two questions:
1) how do I confirm presence of a queen?
2) how often can I open up the hive to check?
thanks all

Really should have started your own thread rather than confusing matters by piggy backing this one, but to answer your questions;
1) sight of the queen, eggs in cells (means she was there laying within the last three days, larvae (she was there between three and eight days ago)
2) you can open up as often as you like - won't do much good for the development of the colony. In the height season inspections should be undertaken every seven days, but as little time as possible should be spent inspecting so plan what you need to do before opening up.