Third Laying Worker Colony

[Millet]

I was getting a bit confused too. In your first post you said you were waiting for a supposedly mated queen to start laying when the workers started laying instead. What happened to the queen?
Just interested
E

I have no idea what happened to the Queen Enrico..after seeing the emerged Queen cell and virgin i left them alone for three weeks...no eggs and no Queen spotted but these where in double brood and as you will know unmarked Queens can be hard to find.. i left them a further two weeks and that is when i spotted multiple eggs in the brood box and supers all drone brood.. my only explanation is the Queen never made it back from her mating flight...either way the colony is back on track with a nice fat GM Queen running around in there...

 

[beeno]

Hi again, great result, never say never. If you remember I had a Q- small swarm nuc and they were laying drones, everyone I asked at my association apiary said they were a lost cause and several people on here. However I'm the stubborn type plus a soft touch for any form of wildlife.
So I sent for a mated queen, pressed the travel box with the new queen and attendant workers into a frame and left them for 4 days, after which the bees in the hive could be brushed off the travel box and they seemed to be going about normal bee business. I opened the cage put the queen on my hand and in she walked.Checked 5 days later and all good, eggs seen and all calm,
Then disaster! Massive robbing problem which had been going on for several days hive totally cleared out and queen gone.
So lesson 1 I definitely think you can requeen a queenless drone laying colony.
Lesson 2 act really fast if you see or think that robbing has started.
That's the main reason I bought the Thorne's RoBo block, for the flexibility.
However, horse and stable door springs to mind in this case.

May I be so bold as to suggest that the massive robbing problem arose because they were queenless. The queen was killed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

May I be so bold as to suggest that the massive robbing problem arose because they were queenless. The queen was killed.

Yes
Not uncommon for a new queen to be allowed to lay a few eggs then killed.
Another explanation is that single eggs seen were laid by laying workers.
People talk about laying workers laying multiple eggs but each worker lays one then another comes along and lays in the same cell. It’s not one worker laying ten eggs in the same place.

 

[Beefriendly]

But why would a queen right colony make queen cells in the first place? That’s the bit I don’t understand.

They often do when a queen with different genes is introduced. Only reason I can think is they are trying to raise their own rather than fully accept the new one. Knocking the cells down works, and as soon as her own brood are emerging all becomes fine.

 

[Erichalfbee]

They often do when a queen with different genes is introduced.

Yes, I think a lot of us have experienced that. Perhaps I should have asked a less generalised question? Why would a queenright colony raise queen cells on introduction of one test frame?

 

[Millet]

Yes, I think a lot of us have experienced that. Perhaps I should have asked a less generalised question? Why would a queenright colony raise queen cells on introduction of one test frame?

My colony was not Queen right.. it had laying workers..

 

[Erichalfbee]

My colony was not Queen right.. it had laying workers..

It thought it was. That is the problem with laying workers. The colony is certain it is queen right. That’s why you can’t just plonk a new queen in.

 

[Beefriendly]

Why would a queenright colony raise queen cells on introduction of one test frame?

They generally don't in my experience. But bees do nothing with 100% certainty.

 

[Millet]

It thought it was. That is the problem with laying workers. The colony is certain it is queen right. That’s why you can’t just plonk a new queen in.

I'll try again....

The colony had a virgin that i presumed had been mated... after 3wks no eggs and i could not see the Queen... after 5wks i spotted tell tale signs of laying worker... i put a test frame in and they drew Queen cells... i went through the hive and the laying workers had ceased laying... i knocked the Queen cells down and placed the caged Queen near the sealed brood... i removed the candy plug three days later.. i now have a mated Queen in the colony..
I know they are not out of the woods yet but i live in hope.

 

[Tony19]

May I be so bold as to suggest that the massive robbing problem arose because they were queenless. The queen was killed.

You may be right, I guess I'll never know. Although the hive was ok for days after queen introduction, she was laying ok. It may be that the original colony didn't accept her afer all, it may be because they were extremely weak the robbing bees killed her. I'd like to think that it was a sucessful introduction and the robbing senario was what did for her, I should have acted faster before the robbing became so frantic. Lessons learnt, but introducing a queen to a colony with laying workers may have worked. I'm going to believe that, as I'm more of an optimist than pessimist.