Queen outside hive dead ?

[Eric knockalt]

Today one of my hives ,thought they were swarming but found my marked clipped queen outside dead,and quickly the bees calmed down and flew back into the hive ,looked at them last week and was very pleased with this queen as there was lots of brood in all stages ,i,m thinking they have superceded this queen but i never saw a queen cell when i opened this hive last week.Will have to check this hive again tomorrow for evidence of queen cell or is they,re another explanation ?as i said will look tomorrow and post my findings just wanted to hear if anyone has had this same situation .

 

[enrico]

I would guess supercedure but....who knows....let us know what you find
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

They tried to swarm - being the queen was clipped, she crash landed and the bees after hanging around a while, went back in.
In all probability, when you lok in tomorrow you will have a load of capped QC's which you'll have to deal with, otherwise they will be off with the first virgin to emerge.

 

[HM Honey]

Was she definately dead? An experienced beek told me once that queens can "play" dead when stressed?

 

[itma]

They tried to swarm - being the queen was clipped, she crash landed and the bees after hanging around a while, went back in.
In all probability, when you lok in tomorrow you will have a load of capped QC's ...

Was she definately dead? An experienced beek told me once that queens can "play" dead when stressed?

And I've heard it called "fainting" ...

 

[Loubylou]

Would that be a drama queen?

 

[Eric knockalt]

Most certainly dead, wee one wanted to bury her with full honours ,because she was the queen ,i am interested to find out in the morning whats going on though ,seriously though "fainting queens " c,mon .Why would she play dead ,if they don,t want her back where would she go ?

 

[Polyanwood]

I have had queens play dead after I marked them.

 

[Mr greenwood]

Would that be a drama queen?

Respect!

 

[Eric knockalt]

Have looked at this hive and found a queen cell in th middle brood frame ,surrounded by brood sealed and open.Another on a back frame with no stores at all or brood just drawn comb ,the qc was not good ,have removed this cell and left good cell on frame was this the right thing to do?There were very young larvae there on the brood frames ,i would be confident the queen was laying up till yesterday or definately the day before .Should i remove the qc left and let them draw a new qc or leave this one ?worry is that if i have missed a qc that has emerged and cell already removed i will lose a cast .there are bees covering 6frames in brood box and plenty in 2 supers .

 

[busybee53]

You should have left a nice large queen cell. You said one was not good but I am not sure if the one you left was in the middle of the frame surrounded by brood. That would have been the one to keep if was a good one.

Either way you have removed one and left them one. Let them keep the one you left and give it three weeks before you inspect again. The new queen will emerge 8 days after the original queen swarmed and will need time to mature and mate before starting to lay eggs.

 

[Eric knockalt]

Good news that was the cell i left will check in 3 weeks

 

[itma]

Good news that was the cell i left will check in 3 weeks

Was your one cell sealed?
If it was sealed yesterday, she won't emerge until about a week today.
Longer if it was open.
You can and should inspect again -- you just need to be gentle with it and avoid bumping the frame or knocking the QC.
It is only after a Princess emerges that you need to leave them undisturbed.


A careful inspection for more QCs is really needed in a few days time, because they can still build lots more QCs in the next few days...

If she was laying yesterday (lets say Friday midday), then the last eggs will be hatching about Monday midday.
They can potentially start QCs on two-day-old larvae, so about midday Wednesday would be the last time QCs could be started. And give them 24 hours before you'd likely spot them easily. So perhaps last inspection Thursday? (No harm doing another before then.)
Hopefully you might find an open, well-charged cell to keep, rather than the unknown of a sealed cell. And do mark its frame - a drawing pin is the conventional and convenient.

 

[Eric knockalt]

Thanks ITMA

Was going to check again tomorrow as they swarmed out today and settled on a fir very close to their hive ,they then started to fan at the hive entrance and in front on the ground and started to go back in ,why are they doing this puzzling me ?Is this common ,i thought it might be due to the hot day ,but thats like saying they nipped out to cool down and then went home .will check tomorrow and post my sightings on this .

 

[itma]

Your description of today's behaviour sounds rather like a mating flight.
However, that isn't really fitting together with a dead queen that had been laying 2 or 3 days ago. Supercedure isn't supposed to happen that way round.
And shouldn't be followed by more QCs.
To be mating today would have meant emerging a few days ago from a QC that was sealed last weekend.

Have looked at this hive and found a queen cell in th middle brood frame ,surrounded by brood sealed and open.Another on a back frame with no stores at all or brood just drawn comb ,the qc was not good ,have removed this cell and left good cell on frame was this the right thing to do?There were very young larvae there on the brood frames ,i would be confident the queen was laying up till yesterday or definately the day before .Should i remove the qc left and let them draw a new qc or leave this one ?worry is that if i have missed a qc that has emerged and cell already removed i will lose a cast .there are bees covering 6frames in brood box and plenty in 2 supers .

After today's display, I think that the 'play safe' option is going to be to take a split and have those frames with QCs safely banked in a nuc until you figure out what the true state of the hive actually is.

 

[Eric knockalt]

Yes thinking thats great advice ITMA shall be banking on that ................bad i know .