Queenless

[Steve Hardcastle]

Finished 4week apiguard treatment today. Could not find queen but 3 sealed queen cells on face of frame & 1 on bottom of frame. New this year having compleeted course on beekeeping. Initial advice is to wait reinspect in 7 days. Supersedure is suggested but may be too late for new queen to mate. A friend has another hive 4 feet away and if no eggs spotted by 4 weeks combine with other hive to over winter. Come April next year, split hives.
Is it too late to obtain mated queen & introduce to hive, destoying queen cells?

Regards Steve

 

[Midland Beek]

Was the queen a youngish one and was her brood okay, as in not-drone-brood?

Do you think they have swarmed? Any eggs being laid?

If there are eggs being laid and they are not drone, I would be inclined to leave alone.

 

[Steve Hardcastle]

Queen was reared this year. Has been laying well and has built up from nucleus into a stong brood with normal drone ratio. Could not see any eggs today, only open young larvae & sealed brood.

 

[oliver90owner]

Firstly, waiting a week is not an option, just a cop-out. The queen cell(s) would likely be long emerged!

Presumably your colony is not strong, nor is the one adjacent?

It is not too late to introduce another queen.

First thing to ascertain is whether there is still a queen in the colony.

You don't say when you last inspected, so assume the cells could hatch tomorrow? - like are any 'ripe'?

It is certainly not too late for her to mate; it is, however, not a certainty that she will be mated. If it is supercedure there may well still be a laying queen - again, you give us no indication of the 'state of brood' situation of eggs, open brood, capped brood, laying pattern etc.

More info would help before someone commits to a specific course of action which may not be appropriate in your circumstance.

Regards, RAB

 

[Steve Hardcastle]

Last inspection was a week ago . There must have been queen cups then which I failed to spot. Both colonies are very stong and are adjacent about 4 feet apart.Brood has been on 8 inner frames. All frames now have approx third of capped honey on both sides.

 

[Steve Hardcastle]

Decided to do another inspection today to look for eggs. If none are found it looks like options are
1/ Leave to sort itself out - could I end up with an unmated drone laying queen?
2/Remove all but one queen cell & then as 1/ above
3/Obtain mated queen & introduce her
4/Combine with friends colony 4 feet away.
Do I have any other choices?
Appreciate any advice.

regards
Steve

 

[oliver90owner]

Option 1) Possible.

Option 2) More likely to end with no queen or a DLQ than option 1. Only remove extra cells when you can see the cell is 'ripening', otherwise leave two. An alternative is to split off a couple of cells into a small nuc and hope that one section rears a laying queen.


Option 3) Certainly anoption but always a risk with one colony at this time of the year that it can fail.

Option 4) Plenty of time for this. No rush at this present point in time.

Options 1 & 2
There will be drones around, just not as many, so it is rather dependent on the weather and she may not be a long-laying queen (further supecedure in the spring -who knows!).

Regards, RAB

 

[Steve Hardcastle]

Thanks RAB for advice - not dealt with queen cells before so how do you recognise ripening stage?

 

[oliver90owner]

They will change at the tip to an orange colour (may be pinkish - I am a bit colour blind so my perception of colours may be a bit awry) just a day or so before emergence.

Regards, RAB

 

[Steve Hardcastle]

Did another inspection - no eggs or queen. Rang a local experieced beekeeper.He thinks too late to rear new queen with much chance of success. He is doing some combining with some of his colonies and has offered to give me a surplus queen.So went back and removed queen cells and all signs of potential queen cells. Shook all frames to make doubly sure all removed. Will introduce new queen during this week. If this fails then still have option to combine with friends hive.
Thanks for all your advice.
Regards
Steve

 

[Midland Beek]

Yeah. Sensible approach. Old queen may have even left with a swarm - not necessarily swarming impulse, but supersedure. And swarm have have been only small.