More Queen Cells

[Millet]

I am starting to get a bit stressed out yet again, my inspection last week was cut short through really aggressive behavior which meant i did not check the last six frames, yesterday i looked in and the bees went ballistic yet again with many casualties, i kept going and found three sealed Queen cells in the middle of one frame and two sealed ones on the bottom of another frame, could the aggression be through lack of Queen pheromone and also led to more supecedure Queen cells that i experienced around 3wk's ago.

Around 3wks ago the Queen was still present when the first lot of Five Queen cells where found some open some sealed, on that day i took a frame of brood away with a Queen cell and placed it in a NUC for insurance, that Queen cell is due to hatch any day, ( hopefully)

The Queen was not spotted in the original hive which i went through twice, i can normally spot her first time around as she is marked, i did spot older brood but no eggs.

What i need to know if the old Queen has Expired for whatever reason, Are these two colonies still in with a chance of getting through winter with new Queens so late in the year or do i need to buy new mated Queens.
Thank you in advance for any helpful advice.
Steve.

 

[For want of a better word]

There are still plenty of drones around... given some fair weather the colonies will have every chance of a successful mating and time to get going on winter brood.
Close the entrances down to prevent wasps and robbing.. giving the bees a small entrance to defend!
Do not forget to feed if you have robbed all the honey!

Good luck
Yeghes da

 

[MerryBee]

Around 3wks ago ... i took a frame of brood away with a Queen cell and placed it in a NUC for insurance, that Queen cell is due to hatch any day, ( hopefully)
.

In the NUC, If you took a queen cell away three weeks ago, it will have already emerged. A QC emerges on day 15-16 after egg laid. If you already had a charged QC, it will have emerged after a further 12 days at most.. By now you could have a new laying queen.

In your main hive, you have sealed queen cells, no eggs, and cant find the queen, so she has certainly already gone. Reduce the queen cells to one, and let them raise a new queen.

If you end up with small colonies, you can reunite before winter.

 

[Anduril]

I still have plenty of drones and am on my last bit of queen rearing. Opened up a hive today I had made queenless, to remove the last of the emergency cells, before adding my grafts. Meant to do it yesterday but got distracted, anyway found 2 cells open and the 2 virgin queens on the same frame. Another hive I was using for queen rearing were quite angry when I opened up, a few minutes after introducing the grafts all was quiet.

 

[Millet]

There are still plenty of drones around... given some fair weather the colonies will have every chance of a successful mating and time to get going on winter brood.
Close the entrances down to prevent wasps and robbing.. giving the bees a small entrance to defend!
Do not forget to feed if you have robbed all the honey!

Good luck
Yeghes da

I do not know if you are taking the pish through previous threads by me but i have wasps at the bottom of my list.. Thank you Steve.

 

[Millet]

In the NUC, If you took a queen cell away three weeks ago, it will have already emerged. A QC emerges on day 15-16 after egg laid. If you already had a charged QC, it will have emerged after a further 12 days at most.. By now you could have a new laying queen.

In your main hive, you have sealed queen cells, no eggs, and cant find the queen, so she has certainly already gone. Reduce the queen cells to one, and let them raise a new queen.

If you end up with small colonies, you can reunite before winter.

Thank you, i will take all of the above into account.

 

[Millet]

I still have plenty of drones and am on my last bit of queen rearing. Opened up a hive today I had made queenless, to remove the last of the emergency cells, before adding my grafts. Meant to do it yesterday but got distracted, anyway found 2 cells open and the 2 virgin queens on the same frame. Another hive I was using for queen rearing were quite angry when I opened up, a few minutes after introducing the grafts all was quiet.

 

[beeno]

Hi Millet, Give it another week on the nuc and then look for eggs. Main hive down to one QC as said above, but be thorough. I can hop it is trying to be proactive for you as the main hive has swarmed and we don't know how strong it is now. Wasps pounce on hives trying to requeen themselves and nucs. There is time for the colonies to sort themselves out for winter. Good luck.

 

[Millet]

Hi Millet, Give it another week on the nuc and then look for eggs. Main hive down to one QC as said above, but be thorough. I can hop it is trying to be proactive for you as the main hive has swarmed and we don't know how strong it is now. Wasps pounce on hives trying to requeen themselves and nucs. There is time for the colonies to sort themselves out for winter. Good luck.

I am not sure if they have swarmed or if the Queen has bit the dust, what i do know is they is no shortage of bees and wasps have very little chance of threatening the main hive, all i can think of if they have swarmed is they have swarmed with a very small amount of bees.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you will find that, even after only a few hours from swarming no discernible difference in the hive population - some of the swarming bees return to the hive once the swarm has settled and bees are emerging from brood all the time.

 

[Millet]

you will find that, even after only a few hours from swarming no discernible difference in the hive population - some of the swarming bees return to the hive once the swarm has settled and bees are emerging from brood all the time.

Why would they swarm though, there is more than enough room for the Queen too lay in the brood box, i also have no Queen excluder in there with two supers above the brood box, one of which is 2/3rds full and the other is full of empty drawn frames.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

never said they had, don't think they have either (that came from the usual random source) could be the queen was flagging and the bees decided to replace her (not always a case of a comic book classic single supersedure cell especially if queen going downhill fast) at this point target presence of eggs rather than queen - if there are eggs, safe to tear down cells but if they keep reappearing, just let them get on with it, it's only August.
Just about to open up a hive that's been making QC's every inspection since the queen mated - she's still present I've left them alone to decide and they're still at it and she's still laying!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As an aside - if bees want to swarm they will, regardless of how much space they have.
Too many on here believe (and 'advise' everyone else the same) that slapping on an extra box (either brood or super) is the solution to all and then come crying on here at some mess or other that's happened.

 

[Millet]

As long as the Queen cells have time to hatch and produce enough brood for winter bees that will make me relax, i do not really care if they have swarmed or not, they tried once and i retrieved them so if they have swarmed again good luck too them.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've got three mating nucs awaiting the queen emerging and that hive which insists on building QC's had yet another QC in today so I've left it there and see what happens.
It's August not Christmas as some would have us believe, the hives are still packed with drones, it's approaching supersedure season so let the bees do what they do best.

 

[Millet]

I've got three mating nucs awaiting the queen emerging and that hive which insists on building QC's had yet another QC in today so I've left it there and see what happens.
It's August not Christmas as some would have us believe, the hives are still packed with drones, it's approaching supersedure season so let the bees do what they do best.

That is my next plan, which is let them get on with it, we are forcast some good weather, hopefully it is true and the Virgins get mated and do not vanish into thin air like my last Virgin Queen did.

 

[Swarm]

I had a colony like that this season, JBM. Q cells every inspection but colony not big enough for a viable swarm. I gave up interfering in the end and left them to it. They are settled again now.

 

[beeno]

Bet they won't winter well if at all.

 

[beeno]

Why would they swarm though, there is more than enough room for the Queen too lay in the brood box, i also have no Queen excluder in there with two supers above the brood box, one of which is 2/3rds full and the other is full of empty drawn frames.

You have done all you can, but if you have swarmy genetics you are on a loser. Change genetics.

 

[Swarm]

Bet they won't winter well if at all.

Is that aimed at me?