Lost Queens

[Steve B]

Hi,

I have had bees for the last 4 seasons and have had up to 8 hives a couple of years ago, but with last year being so poor I combined 4 down to 2 in late summer and left them with plenty of honey / stores to over winter.
I have seen plenty of bees around the entrance (when the weather permitted) and had a quick peek around a month ago but I did not want to disturb them too much in the cold weather so just gave them some pollen substitute on top of the super (which still had stores left in it)

When I eventually had a proper look on Saturday I realised that I had plenty of bees but no queen in either hive!

Goodness knows why I did not look earlier but I am not sure it would have made any difference anyway.

Is there a sensible course of action I can take or have I blown it?

 

[Polyanwood]

It has been cold, too cold to inspect. When you open up they would cluster together. Perhaps you missed the queens? I hope so. Was there any drone brood?

 

[oliver90owner]

What makes you certain there is no queen in either?

 

[Chris B]

Some queens have gone off lay (can't blame them). It doesn't mean they aren't there.

 

[enrico]

I can't believe you have been opening your hive last Saturday in Cheshire. You have four years experience...surely not. What was the temperature....what do you mean by a good look? How long we're they open for?
Is it just me or is this ringing alarm bells in any one else's ears?
Certainly here further south than you I would not even be thinking about it except for adding feed very very quickly.
E

 

[pargyle]

I can't believe you have been opening your hive last Saturday in Cheshire. You have four years experience...surely not. What was the temperature....what do you mean by a good look? How long we're they open for?
Is it just me or is this ringing alarm bells in any one else's ears?
Certainly here further south than you I would not even be thinking about it except for adding feed very very quickly.
E

Highest temp in my garden in Hampshire this weekend was 8 degrees ! And that was mid afternoon after a morning of sunshine ... Pond frozen over again this morning with a good 3mm of ice on it ... British SUMMER time - got to be kidding ? Have not seen a bee in the garden all weekend - mind you, there's not a lot in blossom yet that's worth having. It looks to me like it's all about a month later than even last year.

 

[Haughton Honey]

We are nowhere near opening hives in this neck of the woods.

 

[Finman]

.
If you have not brood in the hive, it is better to move brood frame into the hive and look what happens. If they start to make queen cells, it is a sign of queenless.

.

 

[Stiffy]

Hi,

I have had bees for the last 4 seasons and have had up to 8 hives a couple of years ago, but with last year being so poor I combined 4 down to 2 in late summer and left them with plenty of honey / stores to over winter.
I have seen plenty of bees around the entrance (when the weather permitted) and had a quick peek around a month ago but I did not want to disturb them too much in the cold weather so just gave them some pollen substitute on top of the super (which still had stores left in it)

When I eventually had a proper look on Saturday I realised that I had plenty of bees but no queen in either hive!

Goodness knows why I did not look earlier but I am not sure it would have made any difference anyway.

Is there a sensible course of action I can take or have I blown it?

I would guess you were looking for signs of HM being present, eggs brood etc?
I would wait until weather warms up as queens are probably in there somewhere and you cant do much about it anyway as I doubt anyone has any queens available to re-queen your hives.
Although I can understand the enthusiasm to look through as others have said I am not sure why you did a full inspection? I am about as far south in UK as you can get and although I am feeding them, it certainly hasn't been anywhere near enough to look through hives yet.
S

 

[Chris B]

I've been popping the lid on hives that are unusually light or unusually heavy. The last time was on Sunday. I don't know what the temperature was but it was sunny and some bees were flying. No bees were clustered. What I noticed by looking down the gaps was no sign of sealed brood anywhere, at least not within an inch of the top bar. This was true even in hives bulging with bees. The point being, with little or no brood in a well populated colony, you aren't going to do any serious damage by looking at frames quickly - whether you've achieved anything by doing so is a different matter.
What I did achieve was spot drones in one colony, confirmed drone-layer by looking at 2 frames, found and killed queen, and put bees on top of another smallish colony to boost numbers. Not a major achievement on the scale of things but better than nothing and impossible without removing a few frames.

 

[oliver90owner]

It looks to me like it's all about a month later than even last year.

Last year was exceptionally early to get going. OSR was well in bloom by now - not fully but more than enough for the bees. It was about to all grind to a stall situation, but I am not sure when it took the nose-dive as I was away at the time. Some OSR would be starting in the next week or so in this area in a more 'normal' season.