Queenless....

[e. fudd]

Inspected hive 8 days ago, hive was strong with plenty of eggs, grubs and brood. A couple of queen cells ha been raised which I broke down with the intention of making a nuc on my next inspection. I also saw the queen on that inspection.
Returned to hive today and no sign of the queen, NO eggs, just capped brood, plenty of queen cells with two capped ones.

I am certain I didn't leave any cells behind on my last inspection.

So, whats happened my queen? No eggs means that she's gone a few days. Would they have swarmed without having a capped qc in the hive?

The other strange thing is that there is a massive amount of bees still there, so I cant see that they swarmed.

Could I simply have inadvertently killed the queen on my inspection 8 days ago?

 

[drex]

Brood capped at day 8. No uncapped brood says you lost her 8+ days ago , or that is when laying stopped

 

[Excession]

Swarmed.

They can raise queens off 3 day old eggs, so can complete a swarm in 6 days if they feel the need to rush.
If for example, their last attempt was thwarted!

 

[drex]

Anything is possible. Judging whether swarmed or not by number of bees left is very unreliable indicator. I would cut back to one open queen cell. Lat week I had two virgins come into lay, so no problems mating here. Onwards and upwards. Learn from it. Knowing Life cycle of bee helps in this situation.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Inspected hive 8 days ago,

A neat illustration of why we have WEEKLY inspections. (And they give me a squeaky bum.)

 

[Cazza]

As you have already been advised, 8 days is too long to wait in this situation. If you must knock down the QC's to "buy time" then 4 days is about it.

Cazza

 

[oliver90owner]

They can raise queens off 3 day old eggs,

True, but total rubbish in context and useless and misleading for the poster (and others) who know diddley squat about bees. They could make queens on any egg and even three day old larvae. That is well documented in any good beekeeping book, yet lots just don't seem able to do the most basic learning before taking on looking after bees. Like driving a car solo on the roads before passing a test - or even before taking a driving lesson!

That means they could have capped a cell after a very short time and be gone. Which is most likely what they have done. Even if she was not still laying at the time, they have had ample time to convert any remaining eggs to queen cells, let alone young larvae!

Best advice is don't knock down queen cells and learn a little about the life cycle of the bees.

 

[Eyeman]

If after knocking down all QCs a new swarm cell is formed that same day it won't be sealed for another 8 days.
If the bees decide to raise some emergency QCs from existing larvae and say that larvae is 2-3 days old then it will be sealed in 2-3 days.
So even an inspection 4 days after knocking down the QCs could miss a swarm
Alec

 

[Chris B]

Yes swarmed. Knocking off queen cells is never the answer to stop swarming, unless you have a clipped queen, and then it's only a delay tactic.

The pressing concern is what are you going to do now? They will swarm again if you do nothing as they have multiple queen cells and plenty of bees. I would suggest destroy the sealed queen cells and leave only those with grubs. A week later all queen cells will be sealed and that's the time to reduce to 1 cell. Do not leave 2 cells! If you want insurance split the colony with a queen cell in each half.

 

[e. fudd]

Yes swarmed. Knocking off queen cells is never the answer to stop swarming, unless you have a clipped queen, and then it's only a delay tactic.



The pressing concern is what are you going to do now? They will swarm again if you do nothing as they have multiple queen cells and plenty of bees. I would suggest destroy the sealed queen cells and leave only those with grubs. A week later all queen cells will be sealed and that's the time to reduce to 1 cell. Do not leave 2 cells! If you want insurance split the colony with a queen cell in each half.

Thanks for the advice folks.

I split them and left a qc with each.

 

[Apple]

Yes swarmed. Knocking off queen cells is never the answer to stop swarming, unless you have a clipped queen, and then it's only a delay tactic.

The pressing concern is what are you going to do now? They will swarm again if you do nothing as they have multiple queen cells and plenty of bees. I would suggest destroy the sealed queen cells and leave only those with grubs. A week later all queen cells will be sealed and that's the time to reduce to 1 cell. Do not leave 2 cells! If you want insurance split the colony with a queen cell in each half.

My father now 96 and no longer bee keeping, always would leave 2 capped queen cells and remove everything else meticulously, even any playcupps or acorns as they were known as in Somerset.

One to rot and one to grow, one for the hive and one for jim crow.

Something like that, will ask him tomorrow what the verse was when we take him to Church.

James

 

[REDWOOD]

Do we still use the words "scrub Queen"

 

[oliver90owner]

Yes. Why do you ask? Do you think it is 'not PC' or something? Not sure of any context in this thread.

 

[Chris B]

Thanks for the advice folks.

I split them and left a qc with each.

I hope you left open queen cells and plan to check in 7 days.

 

[REDWOOD]

I just dont seem to remember the last time I heard it spoken or written, thought I might of missed something.
Nothing to do with this thread, apologies

 

[e. fudd]

I hope you left open queen cells and plan to check in 7 days.

I did indeed.