Should I be patient

[buckwyns]

Did an inspection yesterday on my 14x12 hive. Plenty of bees, no eggs, no brood, there are stores and pollen and found an unmarked queen (there had been a marked queen last Autumn). I don't know whether this means she is no good or if I should be patient, I am just concerned that all the winter bees will not last long enough for it to be a viable hive, any advice please.

 

[Pete D]

With the recent upturn in weather there should be brood now. Are you ok at seeing eggs, if yes and you havent got any by this weekend kill the queen and unite with your other hive. Double check you havent got 2 queens before uniting, although if you have they are both dud.
Waiting any longer will not achieve anything productive
Pete D

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

some queens have gone off lay after the cold weather of a few weeks ago, hang on a little to see what develops, there is a queen there, and no laying workers bu the looks of it, so they all seem happy with the situation.
So yes, You should be patient!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

With the recent upturn in weather there should be brood now.

some queens have gone off lay after the cold weather of a few weeks ago, hang on a little to see what develops,

Hah! complete difference of opinion, the forum's back to normal after the strange detente of the last month!!
Spring must be on the way

 

[Swarm]

Well I agree with you JBM, I'd definitely wait another week.

 

[Pete D]

Hah! complete difference of opinion, the forum's back to normal after the strange detente of the last month!!
Spring must be on the way

2 weeks ago I hardly had any brood, half my hives had none. This week they all had brood from 2 - 6 frames. The Essex climate isnt much different from mine being about 80 miles apart and in the East.
As I said in my reply I would give her till this weekend and then take appropiate action. No point waiting for them all to die out.

 

[Pete D]

Hah! complete difference of opinion, the forum's back to normal after the strange detente of the last month!!
Spring must be on the way

Yes I remember the same in the pub.......... we both drank beer but yours was much darker than mine, same result

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

2 weeks ago I hardly had any brood, half my hives had none. This week they all had brood from 2 - 6 frames. The Essex climate isnt much different from mine being about 80 miles apart and in the East.
As I said in my reply I would give her till this weekend and then take appropiate action. No point waiting for them all to die out.

That's not strictly accurate. I have a place in Essex and I had to go over there yesterday. I noticed all my cherry trees where in full blossom there, here in Norfolk my cherry trees are only just showing small buds.
I think it's all the heat that spills out from London that makes all the difference...

 

[itma]

Did an inspection yesterday on my 14x12 hive. ...

For anything except queen cells, it can usually put up with being postponed for a week or so.

Your profile shows two colonies.
Comparison is your first check.
And the second hive is what is being suggested as a combination target, so, how is it and is it on 14x12 as well?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

.......found an unmarked queen (there had been a marked queen last Autumn).

Are you sure it's a new queen?

I got caught out last autumn, thinking my queen had been replaced - but wiser heads (and Luminos) suggested my old queen had rubbed off her markings.

I think they were right.


Dusty.

 

[enrico]

And enrico says.......guess what? .....yes be patient!

 

[Martin G]

I’ve got a similar situation, two hives side by side, one developing fast BIAS, stores a plenty and seams of bees. Next hive, bees and stores but no apparent brood. The peepers aren’t as good as they once were and I’d forgotten my specks so there could be eggs. I decided to leave them for a week or so (depending on a weather window) and see what happens.

If your other hive (profile says you have 2) is doing well did you think of transferring a frame of eggs to see if they’ll raise a new queen.

Hope it turns out well,

Martin

 

[buckwyns]

Thank you all for the advice, I will sit on my hands for a week. Just one more query, if I do have to unite with another hive, the one it will have to be united to is 100 metres from this hive, will I get away with this and how do I do it. Once again, thank you.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes I remember the same in the pub.......... we both drank beer but yours was much darker than mine, same result

 

[enrico]

Thank you all for the advice, I will sit on my hands for a week. Just one more query, if I do have to unite with another hive, the one it will have to be united to is 100 metres from this hive, will I get away with this and how do I do it. Once again, thank you.

Take a sheet of newspaper big enough to cover hive, ( telegraph) put it on top of bb with queen in. Put other bb on top and wait for 24 hours, newspaper will be coming out of entrance chewed up, next inspection remove remaining paper. There will be no problem of them staying in their new position. There are other methods using air freshened but the above method is easy and always works for me. I never put holes in paper but make sure that chewed paper is expelled within 24 hours, if not open and spray paper with a little water. Don't do it on a really hot day as top hive can overheat.
Hope this helps.....obviously only have one queen, if one in each bb then kill one!
E

 

[buckwyns]

Thank you Enrico for your advice. When the 2 hives have united, how long would you leave it before removing the top box and what is the best way to do this please.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thank you Enrico for your advice. When the 2 hives have united, how long would you leave it before removing the top box and what is the best way to do this please.

As soon as the bees have gone through the paper they are one colony. Next inspection, find out where the queen is, put in a QX to keep her in that brood box then wait for all the brood to emerge from the other box (if there is any there) then take it away.
If you can't find the queen - put in a QX anyway eventually one brood box will end up devoid of brood therefore queen is in the other one - thus keep that one and remove the empty box.
If you're lucky, the queen may have remained in the same brood box so you will have one with no brood from the start. Just make sure HM is in the box you plan on keeping

 

[Pete D]

Did an inspection yesterday on my 14x12 hive. Plenty of bees, no eggs, no brood, there are stores and pollen and found an unmarked queen (there had been a marked queen last Autumn). I don't know whether this means she is no good or if I should be patient, I am just concerned that all the winter bees will not last long enough for it to be a viable hive, any advice please.

With the recent upturn in weather there should be brood now. Are you ok at seeing eggs, if yes and you havent got any by this weekend kill the queen and unite with your other hive. Double check you havent got 2 queens before uniting, although if you have they are both dud.
Waiting any longer will not achieve anything productive
Pete D

Thank you Enrico for your advice. When the 2 hives have united, how long would you leave it before removing the top box and what is the best way to do this please.

Hi Buckwyns,
Do I take it you were patient but now it is time to unite ?

 

[buckwyns]

Hi Pete, yes the patience has run out and I have united the hive, got rid of the dud queen as advised and fingers crossed all goes well. Another hive I have, when closing up for the winter, I found 2 queens side by side so decided to leave them to it. On inspection this spring, they are both still there, no eggs and quite a lot of drone brood, looks like I have 2 more DLQ's !!!

 

[RogueDrone]

Take a sheet of newspaper big enough to cover hive, ( telegraph) put it on top of bb with queen in. Put other bb on top and wait for 24 hours, newspaper will be coming out of entrance chewed up, next inspection remove remaining paper. There will be no problem of them staying in their new position. There are other methods using air freshened but the above method is easy and always works for me. I never put holes in paper but make sure that chewed paper is expelled within 24 hours, if not open and spray paper with a little water. Don't do it on a really hot day as top hive can overheat.
Hope this helps.....obviously only have one queen, if one in each bb then kill one!
E

Never thought of top box overheating but very valid point. TY