Splitting hives

[mitzy]

I have a hive which went queenless last month, there was queen cell but after 4-5 weeks there was no sign of a queen. I order one online and it arrived today and I went to add her and found eggs and larvae! It is a really strong hive with lots of bees , I was wondering if I should put some frames of bees in a nucleus and take them more than 3 miles away and then add the queen that came in the post 24hours later. If not any other ideas how not to waste my queen. Advice welcome

 

[Amari]

Sounds sensible to me - as long as the existing queen stays at the old site! I recently had a colony apparently queenless and broodless for 4 weeks; then I saw eggs. Several days later all I had was irregular drone brood i.e. a drone laying worker.
The 3-mile rule should be flexible. I often move colonies between 3 apiaries only a mile apart - without apparent trouble.

 

[Jed D]

Back up nuc is always a good idea..

We've done a couple of A/S over the weekend.
Whenever poss we split of a nuc at the sametime..
1. Prime Queen to new hive.
2. Open cell with brood in original hive.
3. Open cell + couple of frames of brood to nuc...

Can make for lots of colonies ' but it also makes a good insurance policy.

In your case it would be a good back up plan ( in case you end up with a drone layer ).
And as you now have a new queen, put her to work..

 

[Anduril]

I have a hive which went queenless last month, there was queen cell but after 4-5 weeks there was no sign of a queen. I order one online and it arrived today and I went to add her and found eggs and larvae! It is a really strong hive with lots of bees , I was wondering if I should put some frames of bees in a nucleus and take them more than 3 miles away and then add the queen that came in the post 24hours later. If not any other ideas how not to waste my queen. Advice welcome

Sounds more like supersedure, I take it you only found one cell. The old queen has been despatched by the workers and you now have a young mated queen. Now that you have bought a queen and you want to add some frames and make a nuc. First of all find the new queen and make sure she stays in the hive. The frames you remove make sure there are no eggs or very young larvae in them, otherwise the nurse bees will draw out queen cells and you will lose your bought queen. Now add the queen in her cage but don't remove the tab for a least 48 hours. Now the nuc could be moved 3 miles or remain in the apiary. If it remains you may get silent robbing for a few days until the scent of the nuc changes, so make sure you have a small entrance. After 48 hours look in the nuc and see if queen cells are being drawn, if they are knock the cells down and don't remove the tab. Look in again after 48 hours, if there are no queen cells you can remove the tab. Once you release the queen don't be eager to look in the hive otherwise the queen could be balled. I know this isn't the beginners section. But I have had to help a few beekeepers, when they kept buying queen after queen.

 

[drex]

If leaving the nucs in the same apiary, make sure to shake in 2-3 frames of extra bees as you will lose some from the nuc, flying back to the original hive. Beware that you do not shake in the queen.

 

[B+.]

If leaving the nucs in the same apiary, make sure to shake in 2-3 frames of extra bees as you will lose some from the nuc, flying back to the original hive. Beware that you do not shake in the queen.

Flying bees (those that have oriented to their hives position) will always return to their own colony unless prevented from doing so.
If the OP is confident in spotting eggs/larvae, I would suggest making a nuc of only sealed brood and the bees on the frames (i.e. young adults and those about to emerge). Then, introduce your queen to this hive which is "hopelessly queenless".
Watch the reaction of the bees when you put your queen cage on the top of the bars. If they show aggression towards her (clinging and biting the bars of the cage) they are not queenless.

 

[enrico]

Just for the record hives often seem queenless. The queen goes off lay for whatever reason. The bees make a queen cell just in case and then the queen gets over her headache and the cell gets destroyed. You haven't said if the cell was open or destroyed or if your queen was marked. You might have a new queen but it might still be your old one. Would you know one way or the other?
Easy to believe one route when it is actually the other!
E

 

[oliver90owner]

There appear to be no young nurse bees in this colony. OP said eggs and larvae, which would indicate she has come into lay only very recently. May still be drone brood, even!

 

[Teemore]

If you create a Nuc from the hive (call it hive 1) referred to, make sure you do not add the newly laying queen to the Nuc....
Your profile indicates that you have three hives. Can I suggest that you shake a few frames of bees from the supers of hive 1 into a nuc and then add a frame of bees and emerging brood from your other two hives to this same nuc and move it to your alternative apiary site (+3 miles from the "home" apiary). Introduce your newly purchased queen to that Nuc. Make sure the frames you donate to the Nuc don't have queens on them. I suggest that you harvest bees from the supers of hive 1 since your queen excluder will hopefully keep the newly laying queen in the brood box(s) and help you avoid having multiple queens in the newly created nuc.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

you don't have to move the nuc three miles away - just try and ensure you have plenty of nurse bees in the nuc, (Shake a few extra frames full in there) loosely plug the entrance with some fresh grass and leave them make their own way out - I do all my nucs this way and they always have plenty of bees when I net inspect.
Try and use all capped brood close to emerging so you'll have plenty of new bees joining the colony who have only known the new queen.

 

[lilybetbee]

As I don't have an another apiary over 3 miles away I have to do them on the same site, but I always close up and put up foliage which seems to have worked so far.
I do give a very small entrance to defend too.

 

[poshpikey]

Back up nuc is always a good idea..

3. Open cell + couple of frames of brood to nuc...

Can make for lots of colonies ' but it also makes a good insurance policy.
[/B]

That's what I always do with an AS. Put a frame or two with a QC into a nuc at the same time.