Supercedure?

[opa]

This is my first full beekeeping year and would really appreciate some advice.
On finding a sealed Q cell in my one hive a few weeks ago, I put the 3 year old queen into a nuc. The first nuc inspection a week later was fine, during the next inspection (last weekend) I found one sealed Q cell, no queen evident and a lot of tetchy bees. I left the Q cell in place. During todays inspection I took a quick look at that frame to see that the queen had hatched and gently closed up. But I did notice some medium sized larvae on that frame also. Is this a supercedure with the old queen still there and laying? Should I have inspected every frame? Should I do anything else or leave them to it?

 

[oliver90owner]

She was obviously failing and the bees knew that. She may be there, or may not, now.

Simply look after them by leaving them, as far as possible, alone. Certainly do not check them during potential mating times (say noon to 1600h).

The bees will replace her if at all possible. They have been doing similar for millions of years.

Regards, RAB

 

[opa]

Supercedure

Many thanks RAB
You've been really helpful, it's appreciated.

 

[Midland Beek]

There is a kind of syndrome which affects every new beekeeper, and it is one of 'not knowing exactly what your bees are up to'. Of course, the aim with any colony is for it to be queenright and for there to be brood at all stages, and this situation can easily be 'read' by the beekeeper.

I think making up a nuc around the queen was a good idea if you found a sealed queen cell. If there was just one queen cell it is indicative of supersedure. Either that, or you did not see all the other queen cells.

As for the 'main stock', you need to hope that it gets itself queenright, ie. a virgin queen mates and then starts laying eggs.

 

[opa]

Supercedure

Thank you Midland Beek for your reply.
It is a headache, at first books help but every week you ask 'why' or 'what should I do'. I think sometimes least is best if in doubt.

 

[oliver90owner]

As an aside, how is the main colony doing? That one could have eggs/brood by now, but may not. You may not have checked it lately (a good plan) and if too early, then still leave it another week for nature to take it's course, by all means. Your dates given are not decipherable unless assuming checks at weekly intervals.

Regards, RAB

 

[RoseCottage]

I'd agree with both previous posters that the actions you took were sensible and proportionate.

I think the fact that this is a hobby is where the issue of needing to know everything comes from. I spend much of my week getting a secondary beekeeping fix from this forum whilst waiting for inspection day.

When I'm with the bees I try and get through the inspection quickly and efficiently and to minimise my negative impacts on their lives. Then back to waiting all over again...

In other hobbies I am all over things and can spend as long or as little at the coal face of my interest.

With so much variety of experience, the fear of beginner's bad luck, and independent living creatures...it creates a real desire to understand all things.

The boundary of responsibilities is set in my own head and certainly not by my very capable bees.

As usual less is often more.

Sam