Queenless and not interested?

[Itchy]

I have a nuc with three frames of bees, plenty of stores yet no brood and no visible queen. I inserted a frame of eggs and brood from the hive next door. 7 days later there is still no eggs, and no queen cells. Why are they not interested when clearly they were Queenless? What to do next? I was going to try another frame of eggs in another 7 days.

 

[REDWOOD]

I have a nuc with three frames of bees, plenty of stores yet no brood and no visible queen. I inserted a frame of eggs and brood from the hive next door. 7 days later there is still no eggs, and no queen cells. Why are they not interested when clearly they were Queenless? What to do next? I was going to try another frame of eggs in another 7 days.

There must be a queen of some sort in there with her pheromones lingering

 

[enrico]

Inclined to agree with redwood. Try another frame of eggs, if that doesn't work look really really carefully for a small queen.

 

[VEG]

There could be a virgin queen in there

 

[Itchy]

I'll look in 7 days, thanks for the advice

 

[Dared]

I have a nuc with three frames of bees, plenty of stores yet no brood and no visible queen. I inserted a frame of eggs and brood from the hive next door. 7 days later there is still no eggs, and no queen cells. Why are they not interested when clearly they were Queenless? What to do next? I was going to try another frame of eggs in another 7 days.

Had the same no queen but when I put in a frame of eggs nothing. Managed to source a queen but just before putting her in decided to have one last look. Guess what, there was a beutiful black queen wandering around but not laying yet. So new queen has gone into a nuc for now and will wait and see.

Just have one last check and remember she may be smaller than what you are used to be seeing, good luck

 

[Pete D]

Had the same no queen but when I put in a frame of eggs nothing. Managed to source a queen but just before putting her in decided to have one last look. Guess what, there was a beutiful black queen wandering around but not laying yet. So new queen has gone into a nuc for now and will wait and see.

Just have one last check and remember she may be smaller than what you are used to be seeing, good luck

Well done, but the other queen is a dud, she has been off lay for weeks, her offspring are getting older, I hoped you marked her so it's easier to spot and nip her out next week before re combining.
Good luck

 

[Tom Bick]

I looked into a hive at the weekend after a test frame was given to them the previous week and spotted the virgin running around the hive. So obviously missed the early supersedure. Virgin queens are small similar in size to adult bees but with longer legs and they run around rather fast.

 

[protheroe]

last year i removed a DLQ from one of my hives and gave them a frame of larvae.they didnt draw Q cells.gave them a marked queen and she was accepted.why they didnt attempt to draw Qcells while Q-less i dont know.

 

[oliver90owner]

Waiting two weeks when the poster is stating it is 'clearly' queenless is not real beekeeping. At that rate thy could be limping on for months before finally succumbing.

 

[Itchy]

I say "clearly" through the eyes of a novice. I hadn't considered the possibility of a virgin Q being in there.
Was there some advice you were hinting at oliver90owner?

 

[Heather]

last year i removed a DLQ from one of my hives and gave them a frame of larvae.they didnt draw Q cells.gave them a marked queen and she was accepted.why they didnt attempt to draw Qcells while Q-less i dont know.

Maybe the larvae were too advanced. Need to be 1 day larvae... just little sludgy white smidges at the base of a cell.

 

[bontbee]

It's possible that there is a dud Q there. I've seen it three times over the last two years. Lovely looking queens, which their bees were apparently happy with - ie. no attempt to replace her, even with fresh eggs/larvae - but in each case she did nothing except stride around majestically.

Not sure if there is any truth in it, but I read somewhere (on this forum???) that queens can become "egg bound"! Anyone know if this is true??? ta

 

[Itchy]

Checked again today - new queen in there. Still no eggs.
My assumption is that the original queen failed. When I inspected 14 days ago, there was no sign of queen cell. Therefore the new queen has been round at least 14 days, but has still not produced eggs. Un mated due to lack of drones? At what point should I write her off as no good?

 

[VEG]

So you saw the new queen then?
Now just give it a little more time there should be plenty of drones about for her to get mated.
Bees are very good at hiding queen cells.

 

[oliver90owner]

IF she is a new virgin, the time to give up on her is when she starts laying drone brood!

My point was that if they were clearly Q-, there was no point, at all, in leaving them another two weeks. Might just as well unite them to one of your other eleven (?) colonies. If not sure, you should have added another frame of eggs at that inspection. As it is your clearly seems to have been unfounded.

 

[Itchy]

"As it is your clearly seems to have been unfounded."
Clearly it was! My assumption is based on the fact that this nuc had a marked 2013 queen when I left it in winter. On first inspection the bees appeared more tetchy than normal and no brood or eggs. The queen I saw today was unmarked and looked fresh, as in fairly hairy, and us damaged. She looked very much like a very slightly smaller version of my other queens and has a pointed abdomen. I've never seen a virgin queen, so can't compare. Thanks all for your collective advice.

 

[Itchy]

Inspection 7 days later......queen not seen but EGGS are!

 

[Swarm]

Fun isn't it?

 

[REDWOOD]

And expensive if you buy a new queen