- Joined
- Jun 15, 2023
- Messages
- 122
- Reaction score
- 203
- Location
- South East Lincolnshire
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 1 occupied at present. Plenty unocupied and awaiting tenants.
The Invisible Queen
The swarm that found its way into one of my hives a little less than a year ago has always seemed to be an 'under achiever'. They pack in stores quite efficiently, bringing in nectar and pollen. I fed them sugar syrup in the autumn and they filled nearly three quarters of a box very quickly.
However, they have never really increased their colony size. They sailed through the winter quite happily. I waited for the spring before lifting the bonnet and having a look inside. I had given them a feed quite early in the year and predictably there was still plenty of capped and uncapped stores.
But, I could see no sealed brood, no larvae and no eggs. Neither were there existing or the remains of queen cells. This was now early spring. They had come through the winter okay but now, some six or seven months later there was still approximately the same volume of quite happy and contented bees.
The bees remained busy and industrious. They were also very tolerant of me wandering up to see them and then on the spur of the moment (no smoke or PPE) having a careful look for signs of a queen being present. I never saw any signs.
This state of affairs has continued unchanged until now. The bees are living in a shallow super. I've tried them with the Brood box on the bottom and I've offered the the brood box on the top. There is no queen excluder at present. The bees seem perfectly content to live in the upstairs flat and only go through the brood box during their journeys to and from work.
A colony of bees cannot live for ten or eleven months without new stock. They will die and others take their place. I'd love to believe that the Bee Fairy delivers cuddly ready made bees to the hive at midnight - but I don't! So a couple of weeks ago I made a determined effort to find the Queen. First I simply swapped boxes so the empty brood box was on the top. The next day there were less than half a dozen bees on the undrawn foundation. The box was removed and the crown board placed on the single shallow.
I gave them a week to come to their senses and then opened them up for a full strip and body search! The outer frames which were partially drawn had only a few bees on them. I was easily able to check these and they were then placed temporarily in a spare box next to me. Then I methodically picked up each frame in turn and carefully examined it. As before - No capped brood cells, No uncapped grubs, no eggs. I wasn't wearing any PPE to hinder my eyesight, either! I hardley ever need it anyway. I also very rarely need smoke. I did have the smoker ready nearby but it had gone out before I was finished anyway.
Somewhat bemused, I apologised for the intrusion and put them back to bed. Clearly, there was an old or miss-firing queen. She probably laid a just small number of eggs every few weeks and then got on with her knitting again for a while.
I ordered a new queen. The day she arrived I waited until mid morning before going down the garden to the hives. Today I have to introduce a new queen into a colony already having an existing queen that I have been unable to find! I will have to ask the bees to tell me where the queen is so I can remove her! I will do this without any smoke. Smoke upsets the bees and stops them reacting naturally.
I had a five frame nucleus box ready, with one frame missing. A spare empty shallow box was placed next to the hive. The roof was then removed. I then slowly twisted the crown-board to free it and then slowly lifted it away and placed against the hive. The bees seem untroubled but a few wasps dropped by which did concern me a little. The first three frames were slowly and carefully lifted and then placed temporarily in the spare shallow box. The next frame had more bees on it so I held it away from the hive and checked it while the bees were running over my hand. There was no queen hiding on that frame. After waiting for about a minute, that too was placed in the spare box.
I then carefully and slowly lifted the next frame and held that one away from the hive while I examined it. The bees on there were still very placid.
Within less than a minute of me removing that frame, the bees still remaining in the hive were telling me that I had taken the frame with their queen hiding on it. The usual quiet buzzing quickly increased to a gentle roar and the bees start to climb up on top of the box and start fanning.
The frame containing the queen was quickly placed in the nucleus box and its roof replaced. I had brought a spare frame with just foundation to replace the one transferred to the nucleus box and the shallow box was then reassembled. By this time the alighting board had bees all over it and they were on the front, too, all were fanning furiously as they attempted to call their missing queen.
I ran back to the house to collect the new queen in her cage and returned to the hive.(I'd left her a long way from the hive and indoors to avoid any possible confusion by the bees) By now there were a great many bees flying around the hive as well as crawling on the outside of the hive. I placed the queen cage on top of one of the frames for just a moment. Bees came over to investigate. Tongues could be seen both going into the cage and sticking out of it. There was no hint of balling at this stage. I gently hung the cage between two frames via a cocktail stick, brushed the bees away from the top and slowly and carefully replaced the crown board, then the roof.
Within a minute all the bees had disappeared back inside the hive leaving three or four guards outside the restricted entrance hole. All this was was achieved without the use of any PPE and without the use of any smoke or spray. (Also, there not even the suggestion of a possible sting.) I needed the bees to be able to act naturally and tell me exactly when their queen was missing. I certainly had no intention of shaking them out onto a Queen excluder!
Twenty four hours later I carefully slid back the crown board a little way to look at the cage. There were several bees either feeding or attempting to groom the queen inside so the fondant tab was removed and the hive closed up again. I'll now leave Her Majesty alone for probably at least ten days before I go and see how things are progressing.
As for the invisible queen in the nucleus box, I'll wait until the house bees in there start flying and then go in and see what is happening before I make a decision.
My kind regards to you all.
Malcolm B,
The swarm that found its way into one of my hives a little less than a year ago has always seemed to be an 'under achiever'. They pack in stores quite efficiently, bringing in nectar and pollen. I fed them sugar syrup in the autumn and they filled nearly three quarters of a box very quickly.
However, they have never really increased their colony size. They sailed through the winter quite happily. I waited for the spring before lifting the bonnet and having a look inside. I had given them a feed quite early in the year and predictably there was still plenty of capped and uncapped stores.
But, I could see no sealed brood, no larvae and no eggs. Neither were there existing or the remains of queen cells. This was now early spring. They had come through the winter okay but now, some six or seven months later there was still approximately the same volume of quite happy and contented bees.
The bees remained busy and industrious. They were also very tolerant of me wandering up to see them and then on the spur of the moment (no smoke or PPE) having a careful look for signs of a queen being present. I never saw any signs.
This state of affairs has continued unchanged until now. The bees are living in a shallow super. I've tried them with the Brood box on the bottom and I've offered the the brood box on the top. There is no queen excluder at present. The bees seem perfectly content to live in the upstairs flat and only go through the brood box during their journeys to and from work.
A colony of bees cannot live for ten or eleven months without new stock. They will die and others take their place. I'd love to believe that the Bee Fairy delivers cuddly ready made bees to the hive at midnight - but I don't! So a couple of weeks ago I made a determined effort to find the Queen. First I simply swapped boxes so the empty brood box was on the top. The next day there were less than half a dozen bees on the undrawn foundation. The box was removed and the crown board placed on the single shallow.
I gave them a week to come to their senses and then opened them up for a full strip and body search! The outer frames which were partially drawn had only a few bees on them. I was easily able to check these and they were then placed temporarily in a spare box next to me. Then I methodically picked up each frame in turn and carefully examined it. As before - No capped brood cells, No uncapped grubs, no eggs. I wasn't wearing any PPE to hinder my eyesight, either! I hardley ever need it anyway. I also very rarely need smoke. I did have the smoker ready nearby but it had gone out before I was finished anyway.
Somewhat bemused, I apologised for the intrusion and put them back to bed. Clearly, there was an old or miss-firing queen. She probably laid a just small number of eggs every few weeks and then got on with her knitting again for a while.
I ordered a new queen. The day she arrived I waited until mid morning before going down the garden to the hives. Today I have to introduce a new queen into a colony already having an existing queen that I have been unable to find! I will have to ask the bees to tell me where the queen is so I can remove her! I will do this without any smoke. Smoke upsets the bees and stops them reacting naturally.
I had a five frame nucleus box ready, with one frame missing. A spare empty shallow box was placed next to the hive. The roof was then removed. I then slowly twisted the crown-board to free it and then slowly lifted it away and placed against the hive. The bees seem untroubled but a few wasps dropped by which did concern me a little. The first three frames were slowly and carefully lifted and then placed temporarily in the spare shallow box. The next frame had more bees on it so I held it away from the hive and checked it while the bees were running over my hand. There was no queen hiding on that frame. After waiting for about a minute, that too was placed in the spare box.
I then carefully and slowly lifted the next frame and held that one away from the hive while I examined it. The bees on there were still very placid.
Within less than a minute of me removing that frame, the bees still remaining in the hive were telling me that I had taken the frame with their queen hiding on it. The usual quiet buzzing quickly increased to a gentle roar and the bees start to climb up on top of the box and start fanning.
The frame containing the queen was quickly placed in the nucleus box and its roof replaced. I had brought a spare frame with just foundation to replace the one transferred to the nucleus box and the shallow box was then reassembled. By this time the alighting board had bees all over it and they were on the front, too, all were fanning furiously as they attempted to call their missing queen.
I ran back to the house to collect the new queen in her cage and returned to the hive.(I'd left her a long way from the hive and indoors to avoid any possible confusion by the bees) By now there were a great many bees flying around the hive as well as crawling on the outside of the hive. I placed the queen cage on top of one of the frames for just a moment. Bees came over to investigate. Tongues could be seen both going into the cage and sticking out of it. There was no hint of balling at this stage. I gently hung the cage between two frames via a cocktail stick, brushed the bees away from the top and slowly and carefully replaced the crown board, then the roof.
Within a minute all the bees had disappeared back inside the hive leaving three or four guards outside the restricted entrance hole. All this was was achieved without the use of any PPE and without the use of any smoke or spray. (Also, there not even the suggestion of a possible sting.) I needed the bees to be able to act naturally and tell me exactly when their queen was missing. I certainly had no intention of shaking them out onto a Queen excluder!
Twenty four hours later I carefully slid back the crown board a little way to look at the cage. There were several bees either feeding or attempting to groom the queen inside so the fondant tab was removed and the hive closed up again. I'll now leave Her Majesty alone for probably at least ten days before I go and see how things are progressing.
As for the invisible queen in the nucleus box, I'll wait until the house bees in there start flying and then go in and see what is happening before I make a decision.
My kind regards to you all.
Malcolm B,
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