queen failing

[yeogi75]

how is everyone doing, I have six hives on a farm and the queens are old so decided to re-queen all ,now on this farm is a good supply of swallow's nests, and out of six hives I have two made it and now the rest are failing and the two that did make it are superseding what a bummer.

 

[Finman]

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Buy new laying quality queens. IT is September when your own queens start to lay, if you start to rear queens now, ...... and swallows will be in Africa.

 

[mintmoth]

Same here yeogi. Both my hives made new queens and it seems neither made it back, one hive has failed, the other I've given a bought in mated queen. (Lots of swallows and swifts here). Went up to them today and had to turf out a whole band of robbers, even though the entrance was only 2 bee spaces wide. Now reduced it to one space plus a mesh tunnel, hope that fixes it. Lots of wasps about too, trying their luck.

 

[yeogi75]

been a walk up there tonight, and the swallows and sparrows are flying along the hedge line where I have my hives picking up flies, walked around yard and counted ten nests, poor queenies have no chance, think im going to take some nucs home and start them there, I moved them because I have loads of swifts in the town.

 

[madasafish]

I place my mating nucs amongst raspberry bushes and climbing beans.. So there are places for queens to hide and swallows and swifts and blackbirds etc etc don't bother - or fail...

Also hides them from prying eyes ..

 

[REDWOOD]

So what method did you use to requeen? I thought a proven mated queen would have been the best method ?

 

[yeogi75]

queen cells from one of my good hives, I think they are superseding because I presume the queens that made it back had been mated.

 

[Millet]

how is everyone doing, I have six hives on a farm and the queens are old so decided to re-queen all ,now on this farm is a good supply of swallow's nests, and out of six hives I have two made it and now the rest are failing and the two that did make it are superseding what a bummer.

I know your Pain with Swallows, there's around 30 of them at any given time flying around the area where my hives are, they are on a farm with out buildings and by the end of the year that number trebles.

Last year every single Virgin Queen never made it and this year five out of five emerged virgin Queens also never made it back to the hive, the weather was good at the time so it can only be down to the high swallow population, from now on i will just buy mated Queens for this area.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

queen cells from one of my good hives, I think they are superseding because I presume the queens that made it back had been mated.

If new queens are being superceded, it's nothing to do with swallows as the queens got back home OK and started to lay. The problem will be poor mating. Maybe to poor drones due to varroa.
Can't comment on swallows and I don't have them around me.