Queens cells in new colony

[Goodie]

Hi and HELP!

I am getting queen cells in a brand new colony,

I start the new colony with a box of bees (1kg) that came with a queen. They have been in the hive for about three weeks and the queen is laying well, but there is also a lot of drone cells

There have been queen cups for a while, but today there is a cell.

I don't want to do the artificial swarm thing, as the colony is just establishing,

Any help and ideas guys?

 

[Finman]

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1 kg package bees occupy 1/2 langstroth box. 5 frames.

It is something wrong with queen if they want to change it.

Clip the wing of queen and let them rear a new queen. I do not believe that 1 kg colony is going to swarm.
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You could inform the seller that queen is not ok.

Wisest is to buy another package and you get one box full of bees. That is a real beehive. And you get a new queen.
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[pargyle]

Hi and HELP!

I am getting queen cells in a brand new colony,

I start the new colony with a box of bees (1kg) that came with a queen. They have been in the hive for about three weeks and the queen is laying well, but there is also a lot of drone cells

There have been queen cups for a while, but today there is a cell.

I don't want to do the artificial swarm thing, as the colony is just establishing,

Any help and ideas guys?

Sounds like it's a thrown together box of bees with a scrub queen ... did you buy from a reputable source ? If it's only one queen cell they are probably not making swarm preps ... more likely supercedure to try and raise a better queen. Lots of drone cells could mean you have a failing queen ...

I'd go back to your supplier and ask what he thinks ... if they are reputable they should send you out a new queen .. if they will, wait until she arrives, tear down the queen cell and introduce the new queen by one of the safe methods ... if you don't know how then come back after you have organised a new queen and someone will help.

If you leave them they will probably raise a new queen and she should be fine to get mated but it will put the colony back a few weeks....

 

[oliver90owner]

As both above, but get the queen replaced with a good one. You have paid for a good quuen and a replacement by supercedure may give you a queen with unwanted traits. Do not forget that you must not have an incumbent queen if introducing a new one

 

[pargyle]

As both above, but get the queen replaced with a good one. You have paid for a good quuen and a replacement by supercedure may give you a queen with unwanted traits. Do not forget that you must not have an incumbent queen if introducing a new one

Yes.. that's a very good point RAB.... clearly the queen in the hive is not a good one ... we've seen this before (not much recently) with people just throwing anything they can together in the way of bees and charging large sums of money ... we've see a few sorry tales on here over the years.

It's not good and it casts a shadow over anyone who is selling good bees. Personally, I would want to see a colony with a queen with a good laying pattern in place before coughing up the sort of money that is sometimes beingasked for a bag of rubbish.

 

[Goodie]

Thanks guys

I have moved a queen excluder to top and bottom of the hive and will let them replace the queen

Not a great start!

 

[pargyle]

I have moved a queen excluder to top and bottom of the hive and will let them replace the queen

Not a great start!

You don't need to do that ... you certainly don't want a queen excluder below the hive and if you have a super on the top of a colony that new then I would take it off ... the more space they have to manage - particularly if the weather is cooler this week - the more energy they have to expend to keep the existing brood warm.

Where did you get the idea of two queen excluders from ?