New Queen

[castanea]

I introduced a new queen on July 31st, I looked 2 days later bees didn't seem interested in queen so I left any 2 days before opening the gate to let her out. This time they were all over the cage not aggressive so I let her out. Before doing so I checked for QC none, so I thought. Today I went to look to see how things were, the queen is out I seen her but I found 3 QC 2 small ones but there was one I must have missed right from the beginning. I destroyed all will they build new ones, does that mean they don't like the present queen. What should I do now.
Any advice gladly accepted

 

[Anduril]

What is the time frame for disposing of the old queen? Were the cells open or capped? Reads as though one is capped, but need more info for the other 2. If they are capped it would be from the old queen.

 

[castanea]

I disposed of the old queen and introduced the new one right away. The long QC was definitely capped the other had larve inside.This might sound stupid when you introduce new queens should you feed with sirop, should I feed to stimulate the queen
Thanks
Sandra

 

[beeno]

Hi Sandra, They produced emergency queen cells because you removed their queen. Technically they did not have a laying queen as she was caged. Assuming that you have been thorough in removing all the emergency queen cells, you should be ok as there are no larvae young enough to make QC from now and the next batch of eggs should come from your new queen.

 

[castanea]

Thanks for explaining about the queen being caged I didn't think of it like that. I've learned something today thanks, when I seen the cells I went through every frame. I gave them two frames of food, this hive had 8 frames of brood no reserves. Things have been extremely bad in France with such a mild winter and no rain = no honey.
Sandra

 

[Anduril]

Looking at the timing of disposing of the old queen, July 31st, you looked in on August 9th, all queen cells should be capped. The queen cells that were open were small and had larvae suggests to me they are trying to supersede the new queen from her eggs.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Never seen bees building emergency queen cells because the queen was caged - however we hear often of bees disposing of the new queen after building QC's from her first eggs - what type of queen is she?

 

[castanea]

Does that mean the new queen �� is domed before she starts? What can I do this is the first time I have tried requeening.
Sandra

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

if the queen is still there (or you can see eggs) knock all the QC's down - it might just be 'new queen nerves'

 

[castanea]

Will they stop making queen cells? I checked the the hive on the 9th when should I next check the hive also should I feed ?.
That's what I get for naming the queen Marie Antoinette!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do they have plenty of stores? if so, they don't need feeding.
Try and find the queen, if you see her, tear all the QCs down if you can't see her but can see eggs, do the same.
As long as there's still a queen there I reckon they'll settle down.

 

[chrisb]

Will they stop making queen cells? I checked the the hive on the 9th when should I next check the hive also should I feed ?.
That's what I get for naming the queen Marie Antoinette!!

 

[castanea]

Update on Queen
I checked the hive today No Queen Cells, I didn't see the queen or eggs.They have stores I don't know if it makes any difference this hive has always been aggressive, mstings first then asks questions but today meek as a lamb it wasn't even bothered I was there. Could there be a queen and I missed her?
I have 2 hives I replaced the 2 queens at the same time this hive played by the book seen her today and eggs.
What should I do now also what should I look out for
Thanks
Sandra

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

if they are bringing in stores, are they leaving space in the middle for laying - is there a 'stores arch'
Do the cells look at all polished - as if the bees are preparing for eggs

 

[castanea]

Yes there is a stores arch and the cells look polished plus there are bringing in a lot of pollen.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They'll bring in pollen regardless (don't listen to the iriots who'll insist it's a sure signe there's a queen there) although thsst is a good sign. Better sign is the polished cells and stores arch - fingers crossed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Polished cells are encouraging
One of my splits this year failed to produce a mated queen ( out of more than 20 that emerged! ). They did however manage to fill 8 14x12 frames side to side and top to bottom with pollen.

 

[beeno]

Hi Castanea,
Fingers crossed as preparations seem encouraging. Introduced queens are vulnerable until they start to lay often hiding between outside end frame and hive side with their abdomens tucked in which makes them difficult to spot. Here's hoping for you.

 

[castanea]

I checked the hive this morning no queen �� no eggs I took a magnifying glass to be sure. There is less and less brood and the bees are starting to put nectar next to the brood. What should I do now?

 

[Hivemaker.]

I checked the hive this morning no queen �� no eggs I took a magnifying glass to be sure. There is less and less brood and the bees are starting to put nectar next to the brood. What should I do now?

Put in a test comb, if they make emergency queen cells either introduce a new queen or unite them, after destroying all the emergency cells.