re-queen or not?

[Jamieb]

Hi all,

Apologies for my first post being a question but I'm hoping for some opinions.
I've had my first hive (brood and a half of bees) for just over a month so I'm still very much a beginner. About a week after I received my hive I had a major incident where I dropped the hive trying to place it on a better stand (entirely my own fault) which although a nightmare at the time, they seemed to have recovered from unscathed.
Last week on my inspection I discovered that there was no eggs, larvae and generally no sign of the queen (this was the first time I had went all the way through the brood boxes). There was however several supercedure queen cells which I presumed must have stemmed from my earlier issues.

I decided to leave them as I was unsure of exactly what was going on and thought I should read up a bit more before destroying anything. To cut a long story short I checked yesterday (6 days on) and they still have no eggs etc, no sign of the queen and have not sealed any of the emergency queen cells.

I'm basically at the point where I think I should re-queen, is this a sensible course of action or have I missed something obvious?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Swarm]

Are the cells occupied?

 

[Chris B]

Are you sure those queen cells didn't hatch some time ago? That would be the reason they aren't (re)sealing them.

 

[Midland Beek]

The 'if in doubt principle of not destroying anything' is a good one.

 

[Jamieb]

Are the cells occupied?

I'm almost certain they're empty.

Are you sure those queen cells didn't hatch some time ago? That would be the reason they aren't (re)sealing them.

No, how would I tell if they had already hatched? I assumed that they would have broke them down if they had hatched?

The 'if in doubt principle of not destroying anything' is a good one.

Thanks, I'm a bit reluctant to do anything until I'm sure what's going on.

 

[Chris B]

If already hatched the rim will be thinned, perhaps brown, perhaps ragged. I can't upload a photo for some reason but you can probably google "hatched queen cell".

 

[enrico]

There a thousand reasons why things are as they are. The queen may just have gone off lay. By queen cells do you mean full blown queen cells or just queen cups? I personally would add a frame of brood and eggs from another hive but you may not have one available, whatever they do with the eggs will give you a good idea of what is going on! If you can't do that then I would certainly wait a couple of weeks before I did anything. So often people think they are queenless when they are not. She doesn't ALWAYS lay eggs, sometimes she has a break! Especially after her hive has been dropped!!! Whoops, happens to the best of us. Lucky you didn't drop them down your wellies like I did!
Be patient, The chances are it will all turn out OK
E

 

[Jobbo]

You are all really good thanks for all the advice helped me alot .

 

[RoseCottage]

Also you may wish to make contact with another local beekeeper via your local association. A second pair of eyes...

and maybe a new friend with a spare local frame of eggs, larvae, and brood...

All the best,
Sam

 

[Jamieb]

Thanks all, Chris B, I've had a look and I'm pretty sure they haven't hatched as they all seem to be fairly perfect around the edges etc.

Enrico, glad to know I'm not the only one!!

Rosecottage, I really do need to get in touch with some more beekeepers, if only so someone else can have a look with me! I'm in north wilts (near Chippenham) and if I remember correctly there are a couple of clubs near me so I'll have to have a look.


I've decided to give them another week and see what happens, I've contacted someone regarding a new queen locally (ish) so if I do need to re-queen I'll be able to get one.
I'm also toying with the idea of giving them a feed to hopefully give them a nudge in the right direction, does this seem like a good idea or would it be best to let them get on with it?