queen Replacement question

[northernsoul]

I did an AS about 6 weeks ago but alas it didn't work out. No q no brood nothing.

I left and left it and made a decision last week to source a replacement q.

A buckfast arrived yesterday.

Guess what, some brood in hive today when I was about the install her.

Now do I just leave them and give my new caged queen away or should I be concerned about the length of time its taken the Q in the hive to come into lay and suspect there may be problems with her later on.

Should I therefore leave or replace.


PS No nuc box to hand.
PPS I know my eyes are rubbish and should have seen eggs

Thanks

 

[RoofTops]

My instinct would be to find the AS queen and then split the colony into two nucs, feed them and then take them through the winter in the nucs. You should get two full sized colonies next year. If you can't find the queen then split the colony anyway and check after 4 days for any eggs in one of them. If the queen you have bought is in a cage with workers then just keep her somewhere warm whle this is going on and give them a drop of water and they should be fine for that period of time. I have kept a queen in a cage for 6 days in the airing cupboard.

If you just introduce the new queen you have she will be rejected. If you want to stay with one colony then you will have to decide whether to go with the queen you have bought or the one reared yourself. To decide you would really need to find the AS queen and see what she looks like - if she is small and weedy I would kill her.

 

[justme]

I did an AS about 6 weeks ago but alas it didn't work out. No q no brood nothing.

I left and left it and made a decision last week to source a replacement q.

A buckfast arrived yesterday.

Guess what, some brood in hive today when I was about the install her.

Now do I just leave them and give my new caged queen away or should I be concerned about the length of time its taken the Q in the hive to come into lay and suspect there may be problems with her later on.

Should I therefore leave or replace.


PS No nuc box to hand.
PPS I know my eyes are rubbish and should have seen eggs

Thanks

Hi. I'm a new bee but have had great advice from this forum. What i would do is put queen with attendants n fondant all still in cgge (so protected) in super or brood box for a few days. Meanwhile make (not rocket science, measure brood box n make one half width) or buy/borrow a nuc box. If borrowed i'd probably 'scorch' it before using. You've then got a back up in case other 1 turns out to be a drone layer-mine did and if not you can kill the old queen anyway and reuite or keep it as a nuc, hope this helps. Di

 

[oliver90owner]

Get yourself a magnifying glass or some other such 'sight assistance' and do as Rooftops suggests, except look after two days and look for 'eggs on end'. Only saves a couple of days but every little helps - especially at this time of the year.

With three queens laying and careful husbandry, you might well manage to arrive at 3 fairly strong colonies by the end of the season, dependent on how long that might be.

Then your choice as to what you do - run three into the winter, unite and reduce to two very strong colonies - is a choice or option for later.

If the season should be a short one, you still have nucs or unite options..... Oh, forget thinking about the end of the season yet - leave those decisions until later!

Do read Finman's (and others) posts on feeding. You need bees, not stores over the next couple of brood cycles!

Also, while no capped brood you may wish to consider your varroa options (just an after-thought).

Regards, RAB