Overwintered Q- colony

[Angularity]

A colony I have taken over for a friend has no queen. Is there any hope that the winter bees could raise one from a frame of brood and eggs, or should I try something else? I know she won't want to pay for a bought-in queen.

 

[Boston Bees]

Is there any brood of any sort?

If not then the queen has clearly died a while ago. They will all be old winter bees at the end of their lives, in no state to raise a new queen. And there are no drones around for her to mate with anyway. Let them dwindle.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I would shake them out infront of another hive or two rather than let them dwindle.

 

[Arfermo]

Is there any brood of any sort?

If not then the queen has clearly died a while ago. They will all be old winter bees at the end of their lives, in no state to raise a new queen. And there are no drones around for her to mate with anyway. Let them dwindle.

Spray them with some warmed light syrup and quickly try to unite through paper with a weak-ish colony rather than just waste them. be kind and just give them a chance.

 

[Bazzer]

A colony I have taken over for a friend has no queen. Is there any hope that the winter bees could raise one from a frame of brood and eggs, or should I try something else? I know she won't want to pay for a bought-in queen.

They could from a frame of brood, young larvae and nurse bees but is probably too early for the queen to be mated. If you need to keep the colony going for your friend you could add in a frame of capped brood from a very strong colony now and then in about 2-3 weeks add another frame of brood ,young larvae, eggs. I have done this before for someone and it does work.

 

[Angularity]

I would shake them out infront of another hive or two rather than let them dwindle.

Unfortunately it's a neglected WBC hive full of propilis and ancient black wax, in an old lady's garden. The supers and brood box are all different sizes, and I have fixed a couple of them but there is still work to do on the wooden bits, let alone on the wax bits and the bees, God help them.

I'm going to have to find some bees from one of my other colonies, although they're all within a mile or so of this particular garden ornament.

 

[Boston Bees]

Spray them with some warmed light syrup and quickly try to unite through paper with a weak-ish colony rather than just waste them. be kind and just give them a chance.

I wouldn't risk the other colony, personally. Unites are never guaranteed not to go pear-shaped. Also, do we have any guarantee that the dwindling hive doesn't have some kind of health issue?

 

[maddydog]

Too tight to buy in a queen for a queen- colony? She chose the wrong hobby

 

[Boston Bees]

Unfortunately it's a neglected WBC hive full of propilis and ancient black wax, in an old lady's garden. The supers and brood box are all different sizes, and I have fixed a couple of them but there is still work to do on the wooden bits, let alone on the wax bits and the bees, God help them.

Good lord. Do you really want to put new bees into this? Ancient black wax, ancient bees, knackered boxes, no queen? Aren't you tempted to either shake out near your colonies (if you are sure they are disease free) or just let them dwindle, shake out, then get rid of all the trash frames, and help her start afresh with a nuc if that's what she wants?

 

[pargyle]

Good lord. Do you really want to put new bees into this? Ancient black wax, ancient bees, knackered boxes? Aren't you tempted to either shake out near your colonies (if you are sure they are disease free) or just let them dwindle, shake out, then get rid of all the trash frames, and help her start afresh with a nuc if that's what she wants?

Yes ... I reckon some antics have risks that outweigh the possible advantages ... I'm the biggest softie when it comes to trying to keep colonies going but even I have learnt that the effort expended on what is, effectively, a doomed colony is rarely worth the time involved.

I'd be cautious about shaking them out near your existing colonies... I'd keep them well away from your hives and let them dwindle if the OP is certain there is no queen in there. I'd also be inclined to give them a going over with OA by sublimation as it sounds like they have been neglected and could well be riddled with mites.

As they dwindle I would also watch out for robbing as the last thing you want is any mites being transferred to one of the OP's colonies.

I certainly would not bother putting in frames of brood from a strong colony ... pursuade the old lady to get some decent kit and use the crappy old stuff as a swarm trap then start again. Either that or pursuade her it's time to hang up her hive tool ...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

after they dwindle out I'd be tempted to put a match to the lot - it's obvious that the hive is rotten and past it, and the frames/comb is just a vector for disease