No queen seen?

[noumenon]

I inspected my hive last weekend and it's overwintered very well with lots of stores and bees. With 11 frames in use, I put a super on.

Today, when I inspected I didn't see the queen and although there are capped cell and larvae, I didn't see any young brood (though my eyesight isn't amazing). There was one large drone cell or very small queen cell that was capped and one play cup. The bees did seem slightly more defensive, but I did have the roof off longer looking for the queen.

Should I be worried, inspect them again in a day or two, or just sit tight for a week?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Play cups are of no significance. Neither is one drone cell but you need to be able to recognise a queen cell.
If you can’t see eggs try a pencil LED torch to illuminate the cells.
Try to get rid of the notion that you have to find the queen. Look for eggs, food and room to lay then close up.
During swarming season you do have to look for queen cells

 

[ericbeaumont]

one large drone cell or very small queen cell

Drones are horizontal, QCs vertical.

though my eyesight isn't amazing

Ready readers are cheap.

 

[Spinney]

I would be grateful for advice after my first brief inspection this year.
I have two hives. One has 5 frames with large patches of sealed brood, large and small larvae. I didn’t take the frames out long enough to look for eggs. I didn’t see the queen so I am assuming (hoping) she is there.
The other hive has no brood whatsoever.
Both queens were new at the beginning of June last year.
So, what to do?
Unite them? Thank you.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You need to be 100% sure there is no queen in the broodless hive - otherwise it's safer if you just shake them out.

 

[user 6228]

Play cups are of no significance. Neither is one drone cell but you need to be able to recognise a queen cell.
If you can’t see eggs try a pencil LED torch to illuminate the cells.
Try to get rid of the notion that you have to find the queen. Look for eggs, food and room to lay then close up.
During swarming season you do have to look for queen cells

'Look for eggs,' even that isn't always conclusive of a queens presence or absence... but is usually good enough.
Something to grasp is that beekeeping is not something where certainty is abundant.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I didn’t take the frames out long enough to look for eggs. I didn’t see the queen so I am assuming (hoping) she is there.

Have reason and purpose when opening a hive:

1 Check for eggs, which is reasonable evidence of the presence of a queen
2 Check for brood in all stages, known as BIAS. Check that advanced unsealed larvae are uniform in shape. Photograph anything unusual and ask others for ID
3 Check for space to expand in spring or to contract in autumn
4 Check that pollen is present & stores (nectar, honey or sugar) are adequate until next visit in 7 days. Roughly two brood frames in total or 5kg.
5 Check for queen cells in season. Know what to do and have the kit ready for when you find charged QCS

No need to see the queen, unless you wish to remove, mark or clip her, or carry out swarm management.

 

[Spinney]

You need to be 100% sure there is no queen in the broodless hive - otherwise it's safer if you just shake them out.

the hives are on a slight rise so that they are dry. The rest of the garden is sodden. Will it be safe to leave them a week?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

yes - but shaking them out on wet ground won't harm them.

 

[Spinney]

thank you. I was worried it is too wet.

 

[Spinney]

An ex colleague of my husband, newly retired, bought his first hive last summer. Has sent a photo of him hiving a swarm. Bees walking up a sheet - the whole shebang. Is this real? I said it must be from last year. Will bees swarm this weather with no drones about?

 

[Superlativesoul]

An ex colleague of my husband, newly retired, bought his first hive last summer. Has sent a photo of him hiving a swarm. Bees walking up a sheet - the whole shebang. Is this real? I said it must be from last year. Will bees swarm this weather with no drones about?

Wow can you upload the photo for us to see ,went on my first ever bee inspection with a mentor today still buzzing about it now pardon the pun .weather glorious here bees bringing in pollen
John

 

[Poly Hive]

The OP said: With 11 frames in use, I put a super on.

NO. Not the way to work thing out at all. AT 2pm the 11 may well have been covered but at 2am I will bet the farm they were not, far far from it in fact. So they are huddling together to keep the brood warm at 34C and you add 50% more space. Want me to pop over rip the roof off and add another open story? course you don't, (good idea as I'm a crap builder) The gauge is frames of brood. I super on 8 as I am further North than most so 7 in the softer south is the norm. Dinna guess it fact it.

PH

 

[JamezF]

An ex colleague of my husband, newly retired, bought his first hive last summer. Has sent a photo of him hiving a swarm. Bees walking up a sheet - the whole shebang. Is this real? I said it must be from last year. Will bees swarm this weather with no drones about?

I know people who have opened hives this week and found queen cells. We're not exactly in the warmest place in the UK either, so I think it's possible that some people (in the coastal south east, perhaps?) may have had swarms already. Whether the new queen(s) will find sufficient drones to mate with properly is open to question.

James

 

[ericbeaumont]

I was worried it is too wet.

Put a sloping board up to the new home and shake them onto it. If you prefer to shake, do so onto a bush.

 

[Swarm]

Second cycle of drones are already being laid in some of mine, new drone cells with eggs, patches of capped and the odd drone strolling around the comb.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Put a sloping board up to the new home and shake them onto it. If you prefer to shake, do so onto a bush.

Do you smoke them to encourage them to fill up???? I never really knew whether smoking The bees makes them eat honey. I’ve always done it with a shake out but it might be one of these things that are done for no good reason.

 

[JamezF]

it might be one of these things that are done for no good reason.

I think that's very much the case. They're more likely to be rushing for their gas masks.

James

 

[ericbeaumont]

Do you smoke them to encourage them to fill up?

No, never felt the need and the queen pheromone gets them in.

 

[plain_hunt]

An ex colleague of my husband, newly retired, bought his first hive last summer. Has sent a photo of him hiving a swarm. Bees walking up a sheet - the whole shebang. Is this real? I said it must be from last year. Will bees swarm this weather with no drones about?

I have drones in one colony, they could swarm anytime from now if they want to.