barratt_sab
House Bee
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2010
- Messages
- 275
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Herts / Essex border
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 12
Sorry, long post ahead…
The queen was 2010, marked but not clipped. The colony is on 14x12 in a WBC. There were a nuc acquired late last year, and never really got going very well (even at their best, they had only really drawn about 6 or 7 14x12 frames last year). We fed them and they had 5 14x12 frames of capped stores going into the winter. They had Apiguard in late August / early September 2010. We trickled oxalic around the turn of the year and gave them a lump of fondant at the same time (which they used only part of).
Our recent inspection notes are as follows:
20/4/11
Queen re-marked
Removed 2 empty playcups
2 frames brood
5 frames stores
Temper: Good
Added super & bruised some stores in the BB
Saw unusual brood cappings - v. thin white membrane over about 8 cells on 2 frames
2/5/11
Queen not seen
Eggs and larvae present
Removed 4 empty playcups
1 frame brood
5 frames stores
Temper: Feisty
Removed drone brood from base of BS brood frame
7/5/11
Queen not seen
Eggs and larvae present
1 frame brood
5 frames stores
4 frames drawn in super (no honey yet)
Temper: Good
12/5/11
Queen not seen
1 empty playcup removed
1 side brood (larvae only)
6 frames stores in brood box
5 frames honey in super
Temper: Good initially
15/5/11
V. quick look - no queen seen
Removed 1 frame stores from brood box
Installed test frame of brood with eggs from known Q+ hive
Added extra super (previous super almost full)
17/5/11
Quick check - no queen cells/playcups on the test frame
19/5/11
Quick check - no queen cells/playcups on the test frame
Space available for laying on the test frame but no eggs
Other hives in the same location have come on quickly this year (7-8 good frames of brood, second super being filled). One of these hives is a WBC that houses another colony of similar stock acquired from the same source slightly earlier last year. This other colony built up better last year. It has had the same varroa treatment & feeding and has come on well this year (7 good frames of brood, second super being filled). They produced some queen cells and we AS’d them on 2nd May.
So, once again, I am confused:
We don’t appear to have the old queen – we cannot find her, and we can’t see any eggs at all.
We don’t appear to have a new queen - we haven’t found her or seen any queen cells (I accept this part is far from foolproof).
We don’t appear to be Q- - at least they don’t seem to want to do anything with our test frame.
My instinct is that the lack of laying space in the BB caused a swarm (which we missed). We then also missed the queen cell(s) and we now have a virgin queen that isn’t laying yet. I think that if our observations were correct, they must have swarmed on or after about 5th May.
I guess we just have to wait and see, but I would welcome thoughts and suggestions as to where to go from here.
The queen was 2010, marked but not clipped. The colony is on 14x12 in a WBC. There were a nuc acquired late last year, and never really got going very well (even at their best, they had only really drawn about 6 or 7 14x12 frames last year). We fed them and they had 5 14x12 frames of capped stores going into the winter. They had Apiguard in late August / early September 2010. We trickled oxalic around the turn of the year and gave them a lump of fondant at the same time (which they used only part of).
Our recent inspection notes are as follows:
20/4/11
Queen re-marked
Removed 2 empty playcups
2 frames brood
5 frames stores
Temper: Good
Added super & bruised some stores in the BB
Saw unusual brood cappings - v. thin white membrane over about 8 cells on 2 frames
2/5/11
Queen not seen
Eggs and larvae present
Removed 4 empty playcups
1 frame brood
5 frames stores
Temper: Feisty
Removed drone brood from base of BS brood frame
7/5/11
Queen not seen
Eggs and larvae present
1 frame brood
5 frames stores
4 frames drawn in super (no honey yet)
Temper: Good
12/5/11
Queen not seen
1 empty playcup removed
1 side brood (larvae only)
6 frames stores in brood box
5 frames honey in super
Temper: Good initially
15/5/11
V. quick look - no queen seen
Removed 1 frame stores from brood box
Installed test frame of brood with eggs from known Q+ hive
Added extra super (previous super almost full)
17/5/11
Quick check - no queen cells/playcups on the test frame
19/5/11
Quick check - no queen cells/playcups on the test frame
Space available for laying on the test frame but no eggs
Other hives in the same location have come on quickly this year (7-8 good frames of brood, second super being filled). One of these hives is a WBC that houses another colony of similar stock acquired from the same source slightly earlier last year. This other colony built up better last year. It has had the same varroa treatment & feeding and has come on well this year (7 good frames of brood, second super being filled). They produced some queen cells and we AS’d them on 2nd May.
So, once again, I am confused:
We don’t appear to have the old queen – we cannot find her, and we can’t see any eggs at all.
We don’t appear to have a new queen - we haven’t found her or seen any queen cells (I accept this part is far from foolproof).
We don’t appear to be Q- - at least they don’t seem to want to do anything with our test frame.
My instinct is that the lack of laying space in the BB caused a swarm (which we missed). We then also missed the queen cell(s) and we now have a virgin queen that isn’t laying yet. I think that if our observations were correct, they must have swarmed on or after about 5th May.
I guess we just have to wait and see, but I would welcome thoughts and suggestions as to where to go from here.
