Queen stopped laying

[alfazer]

Hi, I have a queen that was born July 2013 and suddenly seems to have stopped laying and I didn't see it coming, until I noticed very little brood. I obviously didn't check for eggs well enough on the previous inspection. There is one open QC about 2/3 up a frame, with larva and jelly. Is this supersedure?
Do I just leave it to nature or should I give them a frame of eggs and larvae from another hive, just in case?

 

[Tom Bick]

Sounds like supersedure and I would let them get on with it. Queens can reduce laying or even stop sometimes then get going again but if there is very low brood and the cell may not be a perfect cell a frame from one of your other hive would do no harm and may give the bees a few options providing that hive can spare it.

 

[badger65]

 

[Erichalfbee]

Can I just ask how big is the colony?
It's been a funny old year......I had an almost identical situation. Found just the one QC on the face of the comb, a week later...same thing.
Left the colony alone.
The queen swarmed.
I looked in and nine or ten swarm cells were in the making.

 

[REDWOOD]

Can I just ask how big is the colony?
It's been a funny old year......I had an almost identical situation. Found just the one QC on the face of the comb, a week later...same thing.
Left the colony alone.
The queen swarmed.
I looked in and nine or ten swarm cells were in the making.

+1 happened to me too
I would split hive if strong enough

 

[Erichalfbee]

+1 happened to me too
I would split hive if strong enough

Yep...I should have and I will next time. That's the reason for asking how strong the colony is.

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes you are right supersedure can trigger a swarming instinct at this time of year and I now remember a similar situation some years ago. On 2nd thoughts let them get on with it but keep an eye on them perhaps a couple of inspections.

 

[Finman]

Do I just leave it to nature or should I give them a frame of eggs and larvae from another hive, just in case?

It takes long time before the new queen starts to lay. It is almost August then.

Get a new queen if you can

 

[alfazer]

Thanks for advice.
On the question about colony size, I still find it difficult to judge this and know what to say, but it was established from the previous year and seemed to be doing okay, maybe 7 frames of brood but often quite scattered rather than full frames of wall to wall brood.
I had marked and clipped the queen a few weeks ago so I'm now wondering if I had harmed her abdomen in some way. She is still in there and walking around the frames as normal. (I have marked and clipped other queens before with no problem. )

 

[madasafish]

Sounds like: poorly mated queen.

 

[alfazer]

You could be right about poorly mated or just not a great specimen to start with. Hatched around 18/7/13 and it was nearly 6 weeks before I saw eggs.

I've been back in today and the single QC that was there looks like it failed to develop any further. I had sealed QCs in another hive so I put one of those in to rescue the situation I hope. It should produce calmer stock too.
Hope I've done the right thing. This hobby is definitely full of surprises.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I had sealed QCs in another hive so I put one of those in

So what's the state of the second hive? swarmed?

 

[alfazer]

So what's the state of the second hive? swarmed?

Mmmm, this is getting embarrassing, I wasn't going to mention it.....but anyway....

The second hive always seemed to be going well, plenty of brood and 2 supers on. Today maybe a dozen or more QCs, no eggs, no queen. She was marked white (not for year but for easy visibility) and clipped. I was through the box 3 times and no sign. I was prepared to do an artificial swarm if I found her, but didn't.
So I left the biggest cell and removed another good one to donate to the first hive.
I just don't know if I did the right thing. My thoughts are that if she is still there and is useless at her job, then the new queen will hatch and supercede her. Or is there a chance that she would swarm?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Being clipped the queen would have tried to fly and probably end up on the floor outside - the bees would then return to the hive. Reducing to one QC ws a good move.

Go back in in about five six days to make sure they haven't drawn any more emergency cells

 

[oliver90owner]

So I left the biggest cell

Perhaps not entirely the best move. A bit of thought necessary and we don't know all the useful facts.

Capped queen cells? If so, JBM is likely correct.

Any eggs? If so you will need to go back in after day 6 to break down any more produced. If you know the age of any eggs, of course.

Was the retained cell capped? If so, you won't know when it will emerge (or even if!), so going back in before emergence is a bit of a lottery.

How simple to break down capped cells, select your chosen cell, mark the frame and go back in in a week? Open cell now - so you know it is viable. They are not so likely to build any more if several are left now, in a week you may well see that the selected cell is ripe, so can remove the rest in one go.

Your other capped(?) cell chosen for the Q- colony could be checked for emergence or ripeness before destroying these cells. You would be up the creek without a paddle, particularly if both cells failed, and they do not make more cells. But possibly scrubby and small cells which may not be so easy to find.

Leaving or moving recently capped cells is not the best way of doing things, either.

Unless you tell us all the details, others might not get the complete message. Maybe you did leave an open cell, but all the learners reading this will not pick up on all the salient facts.

 

[alfazer]

All the cells were closed, so that's what is now in both hives.

I forgot to update my number of hives on the forum. I have four now. So still have 2 that are ok.

 

[Nige.Coll]

If queenie has stopped laying then beware of swarms. from what i have seen supercedure doesn't make her stop laying. she lays until she dies then there is a break from what i have seen anyway...

 

[enrico]

In all this there has been no suggestion that the queen just might have gone off lay for a while. They take breaks, sometimes for three or four weeks and then start again as though nothing has happened! Beware the 'no eggs therefore I am queenless scenario'! Causes more swarms than you think!
E