To merge or not to merge, that is the question?

King Scavenger · Jul 13, 2015

Hi all, It's me again. I have a very busy queen that can lay for England, She is clipped and swarmed twice. Both times I picked her up from the landing strip, with lots of her bees, and put them in an empty hive with brood and stores. In the hive she came from were 4 queen cells . I removed all but the strongest one and left them to get on with it. That was two and a half weeks ago. I have checked today and found the cell hatched but no sign of the queen. There was a few grubs but no eggs. I assume she hasn't returned to the hive, after mating. As far as I can see, I have 3 options. 1, Buy a new queen, Merge my poorest hive , with a queen, or leave them to bring on an emergency queen .I think I would be happier with the merge but all advice welcome. :nopity:

clv101 · Jul 13, 2015

King Scavenger said:
That was two and a half weeks ago. I have checked today and found the cell hatched but no sign of the queen. There was a few grubs but no eggs.

Grubs that were laid <8 days ago. Where did those grubs come from?

King Scavenger · Jul 13, 2015

That's a thought!! She may be in there. I will leave it for another week and check.

wessexmario · Jul 13, 2015

sometimes new queens take a month or so to get into the swing of laying in earnest, so yes, give it time.

King Scavenger · Jul 13, 2015

Thanks all for your help, again, It's good to know you are out there to help :thanks:

jenkinsbrynmair · Jul 13, 2015

King Scavenger said:
Hi all, It's me again. I have a very busy queen that can lay for England, She is clipped and swarmed twice. Both times I picked her up from the landing strip, with lots of her bees, and put them in an empty hive with brood and stores. In the hive she came from were 4 queen cells . I removed all but the strongest one and left them to get on with it. That was two and a half weeks ago. I have checked today and found the cell hatched but no sign of the queen. There was a few grubs but no eggs. I assume she hasn't returned to the hive, after mating. As far as I can see, I have 3 options. 1, Buy a new queen, Merge my poorest hive , with a queen, or leave them to bring on an emergency queen .I think I would be happier with the merge but all advice welcome.

Patience! You don't say it but I'm assuming you checked the hive and found still open QC's ? in which case, the queen would only have emerged a week or so ago, good chance she hasn't even been on a mating flight yet.
The larvae is a strange one - sure you have your timings right?