Shall I just let this one go?

[ShinySideUp]

I have a colony that seems to have a death wish. Some time ago, weeks really, I decided this particular colony was queenless, there were no eggs or larvae and I couldn't find her. I bought a new queen, introduced her in all the right ways and when I looked two weeks later, no eggs, no larvae, again. Put in a test frame and they formed loads of QC'S SO i took them down to two and within two weeks the hive had swarmed. I caught the swarm, the queen mated and is now laying eggs. I looked in the original hive today and guess what? No eggs, no larvae and as far as I can see. no queen.

I really can't be arsed to put in another test frame as I don't want to reduce numbers in my other hives at this time of year and I'm not convinced these particular bees want to live anymore.

If there is a queen in there then perhaps she will mate and I'll see something next week but I think I'll unite them with another weaker colony if nothing happens.

My concern is that I'll get laying workers. If I do can I still unite them with another hive or will the laying workers cause problems?

 

[Eyeman]

Avoid laying workers at all costs- not worth the hassel. Put a test frame in and let them raise their own queen if you get queen cells. I had a similar hive last year that wouldn't accept an introduced queenx3 of the same stock even under a push in cage. I left them to sort themselves out with the last test frame which had queen cells. All sorted in the end.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Avoid laying workers at all costs- not worth the hassel. Put a test frame in and let them raise their own queen if you get queen cells. I had a similar hive last year that wouldn't accept an introduced queenx3 of the same stock even under a push in cage. I left them to sort themselves out with the last test frame which had queen cells. All sorted in the end.

As I said, I don't really want to use another test frame. The frame I took the last one from could only just spare the brood and can't do another. The swarm that came from this hive has only just started laying in their own home and the third hive I have while a good honey gatherer is not the friendliest of hives and I don't want another one like that.

Here's a thought, can I get a section of eggs from another hive rather than a whole frame and graft that into place in the (possibly) queenless one?

 

[Eyeman]

You can use a cookie punch to cut a circle of eggs from the the donor frame and use the same punch on a frame in the ?Q- hive and mold it into position. If you get QC's then take then knock them down and then go ahead and do your unite.

 

[ShinySideUp]

You can use a cookie punch to cut a circle of eggs from the the donor frame and use the same punch on a frame in the ?Q- hive and mold it into position. If you get QC's then take then knock them down and then go ahead and do your unite.

Good idea, will do that tomorrow.

 

[pargyle]

Good idea, will do that tomorrow.

Don't get your hopes up .. I had a colony last year that seemed intent on remaing queenless no matter what I did ... they survived over winter and despite finally getting a laying queen in there the autumn they fizzled out in spring. Some bees seem to be determined not to survive despite anything we do with them .. makes no sense but it happens. Darwinian law ? Perhaps they know something we don't ?

 

[ShinySideUp]

Don't get your hopes up .. I had a colony last year that seemed intent on remaing queenless no matter what I did ... they survived over winter and despite finally getting a laying queen in there the autumn they fizzled out in spring. Some bees seem to be determined not to survive despite anything we do with them .. makes no sense but it happens. Darwinian law ? Perhaps they know something we don't ?

TBH I have little hope. As I said in my original post they have had a few queens available but have rejected them all. The swarm a couple of weeks ago surprised me though and I'm beginning to wonder if they knew something and wanted to get out although surely the whole colony would have absconded. Strange though, the swarm was huge and I might take a guess that 70% of the hive went; perhaps the others were asleep and when they woke up everyone else was gone?! Still, they left an awful lot of honey behind, which I shall be harvesting tomorrow and the swarm is doing very nicely in a new hive just eight feet away.

 

[Millet]

TBH I have little hope. As I said in my original post they have had a few queens available but have rejected them all. The swarm a couple of weeks ago surprised me though and I'm beginning to wonder if they knew something and wanted to get out although surely the whole colony would have absconded. Strange though, the swarm was huge and I might take a guess that 70% of the hive went; perhaps the others were asleep and when they woke up everyone else was gone?! Still, they left an awful lot of honey behind, which I shall be harvesting tomorrow and the swarm is doing very nicely in a new hive just eight feet away.

I am onto my third laying worker colony and they are a pain in the butt to sort out..even worse if the bees are angry and defensive.. the best advice i can give you from personal experience IS give them a frame of egg's.. if you can not do that write the colony of as it is no good for anything.. i may be going to do a experiment soon with such a colony or i may not.. i will post the outcome in a week or two..

 

[For want of a better word]

1/2 AS the dodgy through a qx colony to strain out drones and possible DLQ

Merge thru Financial Times onto another colony and throw the bees from the bottom box ( drones and DLQ?? in a hedge away from your bees!

Buy in some Local native dark bees.........