More haste less speed: to squish or not to squish?

[Headnavigator]

4 weeks after hiving a smallish swarm (3 seams) into a poly nuc I found that that there was sealed drone brood in the frames and although there were plenty of eggs there were multiples in some cells. I found a perfectly good looking queen and had to make a decision whether to squish her there and then, or give her another chance. As the eggs were right at the bottom of cells I made the assumption that she had laid them, rather than a d-l worker, added a frame of new eggs and brood from another colony so that the bees could decide for themselves, and closed up, in some doubt.
Today I checked the colony to find no drone brood, and nice flat areas of sealed worker brood as well as single eggs and unsealed brood. She has obviously come good.
My question is to ask how often others have given a colony the chance to sort themselves out rather than to decide for them. Asking around, most of my colleagues would have squished the queen there and then. Maybe sometimes we're a bit too hasty? What have others found?

 

[galileo]

My experience with new Queens is that the bees usually if not always know best. If they have a Queen they're not happy with for any reason, they'll knock up a supercedure cell and roll the weather/mating dice again as long as they have some fertilised eggs to work with.

Having said that, today I removed a new Queen into a cage to pop into a keiler. They have a 24 hours to go, ripe supercedure cell like an elephant's whatsit but the eggs she's laid since they started it have turned out good. She's probably going to prove to be a dud down the road but as long as she's laying lady eggs she gets a home instead of the freezer. Fresh Queens are never in the way.

 

[enrico]

My policy is always 'PATIENCE'

 

[oliver90owner]

Well done for not panicking.

I would consider any queen that gets mated within three weeks (ie starts laying that soon) is a good'un and her first capped brood are not conclusive evidence for termination. Now, had it been 6 weeks, or more, I would immediately have thought 'un-mated queen' and she would more likely to have been gone if there was a laying queen available.

It is just a matter of weighing up the evidence. Over-hasty decisions are more likely wrong, as are making assumptions. I would not have given her long, mind, to come right.

Hope you culled that first capped brood - nearly all the varroa would have gone with it.

RAB

 

[YorkshireBees]

I'll admit that one of the 1st Nuc's I produced this year had what I thought to be an un-mated DLQ in there and in the end I shook them out in front of other hives in the apiary.

The other Nucs made at the same time all came good but there was a period when I thought that they also were started at the wrong time and I was unlucky with the weather during the mating window.

With hindsight I face the fact that the 1st Nuc may well have had a mated Queen!!

You live, you beekeep, you learn!!