Queen MIA!!!

Julesbee · Jul 19, 2016

Hi,

I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice please??

Got my 1st hive in May with 5 frames of bees with queen. I've checked them regularly & all seemed OK until today!!! It's been cold here for a couple of weeks so I've not opened the hive, when I checked them today there's lots of queen cells & I can't find the queen (she was marked blue) but I think I spotted a new queen?
Could my old queen have gone & a new one hatched??

Thanks

Jules

GaryB · Jul 19, 2016

Looks as though she may have swarmed. When was the last inspection prior to today?

On today's inspection did you:

1. See eggs and larvae
2. Check if the QC's are capped
3. Notice a lot fewer bees

masterBK · Jul 19, 2016

Too late but my future advice would be to regularly inspect your bees during the swarming season ( even if you feel the weather not always suitable) otherwise they may well do what they have done. They will also probably swarm again (casting) unless you reduce the queen cells down to one. I would also suggest taking a three comb nucleus with one of the queen cells as an insurance policy (not all virgins get mated properly and some disappear on the mating/oritentation flights). As you are relatively inexperienced I would suggest you also get some local help from someone who knows what to look for and what to do about it. A good mentor is worth their weight in gold

Julesbee · Jul 19, 2016

I could see eggs & larvae but defo no queen! The number of bees doesn't appear to be any less.
I'll try to locate someone local that can help me!!

GaryB · Jul 19, 2016

masterBK said:
Too late but my future advice would be to regularly inspect your bees during the swarming season ( even if you feel the weather not always suitable) otherwise they may well do what they have done. They will also probably swarm again (casting) unless you reduce the queen cells down to one. I would also suggest taking a three comb nucleus with one of the queen cells as an insurance policy (not all virgins get mated properly and some disappear on the mating/oritentation flights). As you are relatively inexperienced I would suggest you also get some local help from someone who knows what to look for and what to do about it. A good mentor is worth their weight in gold

I agree with masterBK

bpmurray · Jul 19, 2016

Julesbee said:
I could see eggs & larvae but defo no queen! The number of bees doesn't appear to be any less.
I'll try to locate someone local that can help me!!

If there are eggs, there is almost certainly a queen. Your failure to see her doesn't mean she's not there! This is probably one of the most popular questions in this forum, and it's also something that afflicts those (like me) who haven't mastered the knack of spotting the queen. One of my hives has a new queen and I haven't managed to spot her in over two months! At least I've managed to spot the other three new queens, but this one ...