Maybe a problem with the queen?

[sandyjet62]

Just been to our apiary and was expecting to see our colony had expanded further from last week. Two weeks ago, we noticed that they were running short of stores and started feeding. Subsequent inspections, the last being last saturday had eggs, capped/uncapped brood, and stores, saw queen scurrying quickly across frame all was looking good. We now have capped and uncapped larvae, stores and plenty of bees but no eggs. Thinking I'd missed both eggs and queen, I looked again at each frame. I found the queen under a frame end, laying on her side and moving slowly, but no eggs. As there are no eggs and the larvae are quite large, I can only assume that queen stopped laying sometime last week. I've put her back on a frame and she is crawling about, but as there have been no eggs, I dont know if she is capable of laying. I'm also afraid that as there is no sign of queen cells, the bees have not had a chance to supercede her. At first I thought that I had damaged her during the inspection somehow but I dont think so, as there would have been eggs. I cannot introduce a frame with eggs to raise a new queen as this is our only colony. I,m afraid that if the queen cannot now lay, the colony will become queenless. I don't understand what has happened to the queen as up until last week, she was active. I'm as sure as I can be that she was'nt harmed during inspections. also, our bees have been quite calm during inspections so far, but today the were'nt at all happy.

I would be grateful to hear any advice.

 

[Bad Boy Bee]

Don't do anything rash and give the poor girl a chance she may just be traumatised. Carry on with normal inspections and report back to the forum with an update next week adding more details on the hive, Queen age etc

 

[sandyjet62]

give the poor girl a chance she may just be traumatised.

I'm hoping this is the case. I've no choice but to wait and see if she lays now she is on the frames. empty cells have been prepared for her and i'm hoping she will recover enough to at least give the bees a chance to realise she is failing (if she is). She is a big queen and has always been easy to spot. I'm wondering now if she had got herself trapped between the frame end and runner where I found her and this is why the bees were edgy. Thinking about it, they were noisy before opening the hive, and quiet when I returned her to the frame and re-assembled hive.

 

[Juststarting]

Lots of healthy queens seem to have stopped/reduced their laying due to the weather this year. I would be patient and check again in a few days.

 

[Skyhook]

I feel for you- I definitely did damage the queen in my only hive, and it's a horrible feeling- however they (not I) have managed to sort it out. I agree with the others, do nothing rash.

If the worst comes to the worst, do you know any other beeks who might be willing to donate a frame of eggs?

 

[oliver90owner]

There is no history or clue as to the size of the colony, amount of brood etc.

If short of food a colony will be sensible and stop feeding the queen to reduce or even stop her laying. Bees are not usually stupid and starve themselves to death - just some imported strains do it.

That may be an explanation of the situation. It may not be, either, but is an alternative to doom and gloom.

I note you say 'noticed', not 'noted'. Subtle difference in wordology. One has an air of surprise, the other of routine. Your records should show how the stores are progressing, especially as a new beek with just the one colony. You may have noted the prevailing weather conditions, too; sometimes there is forage available but the bees cannot fly due to the weather.

The outcome (starvation) may be the same but the reversal of the symptoms can be simply brought about by a couple of sunny days.

RAB

 

[sandyjet62]

Hi all,

We had a call from the bee inspector and at his request, we waited until now to inspect our hive. He found our queen dead outside the hive. I obviously missed eggs last Friday because we now have queen cells, one of which is sealed..... some in the middle of the comb and some on the bottom of the frame, I thnk he said 3 frames have cells.

When asked what we should do now the options he gave us were to leave alone and assume they,ll bring on the new queen and break down other cells, or we could split the colony equally, to allow each to estblish with the new queen.

We are not concerned about a lack of honey crop, so splitting seems the best way to go. If we do this, is it best to leave all cells and allow the bees to sort themselves out, or would it be better just leave 2 cells to each half of the split?

 

[sandyjet62]

Is it possible to split a colony between 2 brood boxes.

Hi all,

I have just heared that I have to work away from Thursday, so whatever I do with my bees has to be done tomorow as I may be away for a week.

I now have no queen and only queen cells. Rather than splitting, Would it be better to remove all but a couple of cells (one already sealed) and wait till the bees sort themselves out. Would this preferable to dividing into 2 small colonies?

I really dont know what I should do for the best.

 

[Midland Beek]

We are not concerned about a lack of honey crop, so splitting seems the best way to go. If we do this, is it best to leave all cells and allow the bees to sort themselves out, or would it be better just leave 2 cells to each half of the split?

If it were me I would aim to split the colony so that you have two throws of the dice. In doing so I would probably destroy the 'obviously puny' queen cells, but it is not critical that you do this. Try and give each part of the split 2, 3 or 4 queen cells.

Another option is to destroy all and anything resembling a queen cell and then introduce a new, bought queen. They are readily obtained at about £30.

 

[Poly Hive]

Why are you advising a newbie to leave so many cells Midlands?

Personally I would never leave more than one. The bees are under enough stress with out forcing them to make decisions which may lead to a swarm departing.

Leaving multiple cells is not in my thoughts the best practise.

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

Allowing small colonies to develop new queens from now is fraught with danger - the main being the potential wasp problem. You cannot expect any reinforcements for either colony for perhaps 6 weeks or so depending on conditions.

Our pest controllers on the forum would have a better idea of whether this year may be better, or worse, than average for wasps.

I reckon for a new beek a couple of bought-in queens is the safest way forwards, and even that has it's risks.

RAB

 

[Skyhook]

Why are you advising a newbie to leave so many cells Midlands?

Personally I would never leave more than one. The bees are under enough stress with out forcing them to make decisions which may lead to a swarm departing.

Leaving multiple cells is not in my thoughts the best practise.

PH

It's really scary reducing to 1 cell- but history seems to suggest it's the safest course- and if you have 1 cell in each of 2 nucs that's your insurance. You then have the option of recombining, and if both halves have raised a queen, the chance to choose the better.

 

[sandyjet62]

hi all,

Just like to says thanks for all the advice!

decided to go for splitting the colony but could'nt decide how many cells to leave. In the end, I put about forty percent of the brood frames and bees in a new hive (including many cells) and left the rest in the original hive with 1 sealed and 1 unsealed cell. Its early days I know, but there is a queen in each hive now and other queen cells have been, or are being broken down.
I suppose its just a case of waiting to see if they start laying now. maybe this coming heat wave will spur them to go off to mate.

Thanks again.