Under-developed queen: survivability

[Bungalow]

I released a queen from a queen cell today. There were four in total. I wanted to see what stage they were at before harvesting a couple more.

The queen seemed about 3 days to go. The cell was still quite tough.

My question for the forums is: can queens this under-cooked survive?

She was a bit pale and wobbly, but walking.

Thanks.

I can't find any photos is my books - so I may have the days wrong.

 

[Essexgary]

I released a queen from a queen cell today. There were four in total. I wanted to see what stage they were at before harvesting a couple more.

The queen seemed about 3 days to go. The cell was still quite tough.

My question for the forums is: can queens this under-cooked survive?

She was a bit pale and wobbly, but walking.

Thanks.

I can't find any photos is my books - so I may have the days wrong.

Hi there, just interested to know why you would 'harvest' queens. Is that part of queen rearing? or was it in your hive?, i havent heard of it before.

Gary

 

[oliver90owner]

That early? Have you not read up about the way to tell when a queen cell is about to emerge (a day or so prior)?

 

[davnig]

That early? Have you not read up about the way to tell when a queen cell is about to emerge (a day or so prior)?

you could be helpful and inform rather than belittle !!

isn't that what forums are for??

 

[Easy Beesy]

I released a queen from a queen cell today. There were four in total. I wanted to see what stage they were at before harvesting a couple more.

The queen seemed about 3 days to go. The cell was still quite tough.

My question for the forums is: can queens this under-cooked survive?

She was a bit pale and wobbly, but walking.

Thanks.

I can't find any photos is my books - so I may have the days wrong.

Seems a bit like pulling the wings off daddylonglegs to me. And anyway, opening one queen cell doesn't really give you any indication of the status of the others. Is there such a thing as cruelty to bees?

 

[lorrick]

 

[BeeJayBee]

3 days early, when the cell is only sealed for 8 days, seems very premature. I think you'll soon find out if she's capable of surviving, or not.

 

[Outlander]

you could be helpful and inform rather than belittle !!

isn't that what forums are for??

No I agree with o90o, it was not belittling it was I feel disgust.

I had three Q in the same hive all emerging at the same time with I helped out but this was on the day of emergence. I was lucky that I opened the hive at the right time, now all three queens have been used. If you wanted to see the development then there are plenty of books that would allow you to see this.

What a waste of a queen.

 

[oliver90owner]

Nah, not really. Just a lack of fore-thought. A quick look in Hooper page 31, I think, might be a good start.

Our 'holier than thou davnig' didn't exactly add much to the thread. Maybe he's gone away to sarch out some facts. Perhaps start with the word 'ripe'?

Maybe 'asking before destroying' is a better idea, than poking queen cells one wishes to keep, would be a far better plan. Much better than 'Oops that one is now no good, let's try another ... oops and another ...

Standing back and thinking is in very short supply, it seems. 'Seems' demonstrated, to me, a need for more knowledge to be able to make any judgement based on basic facts.

 

[Outlander]

Yep, I was a bit harsh but still not a nice thing to do. Anyway bed time, Night all.

Page 31

 

[keith pierce]

This is a black queen that was raised in an incubator where the temperature was a little to high. She hatched about 6 to 8 hours early and by the following day she was as black as the ace of spades

 

[madasafish]

Nice foto..

 

[Luminos]

3 out of 4 of mine last year started off that colour, but darkened to amber and black.
Brilliant photo btw

 

[davnig]

Nah, not really. Just a lack of fore-thought. A quick look in Hooper page 31, I think, might be a good start.

Our 'holier than thou davnig' didn't exactly add much to the thread. Maybe he's gone away to sarch out some facts. Perhaps start with the word 'ripe'?

Maybe 'asking before destroying' is a better idea, than poking queen cells one wishes to keep, would be a far better plan. Much better than 'Oops that one is now no good, let's try another ... oops and another ...

Standing back and thinking is in very short supply, it seems. 'Seems' demonstrated, to me, a need for more knowledge to be able to make any judgement based on basic facts.

holier than thou?? nicer than thou maybe!!

people come here for more knowledge!!

 

[MandF]

Absolutely. And as soon as people stop doing that the forum would die a death.

We can learn from peoples mistakes, and if people are scared of asking questions, or indeed revealing mistakes made, then that is a bad thing.

In my opinion of course.

Admins, if any are reading, perhaps a suggestion from another forum I frequent;

They have a students section, where the rule is that noone is nasty, sarcastic, judgemental etc in any way. Maybe we should either have such a 'beginners' section here, or preferably make those rules apply to the main section and have a different opinionated open season section for those who wish to, or dare to risk such responses?

Just a thought.

 

[psafloyd]

Maybe we should either have such a 'beginners' section here, or preferably make those rules apply to the main section and have a different opinionated open season section for those who wish to, or dare to risk such responses?

Just a thought.

Actually, I think that would be a very good idea. Despite being only in my fourth (?) season, I would class myself as a novice and no end of reading will not give you the practical experience required to make the right judgement on the hoof.

 

[Bungalow]

Phew. Thanks for the helpful, factual replies.

Reading this forum over the last year or so has taught me to ignore the grumpy know-it-alls. And sometimes what leaves ones keyboard as a brilliant Swiftian satire reaches the reader as gross sarcasm. This can happen to the best of us, on a bad day. So a good deal of tolerance is needed on occasion.

To explain a bit more, I have several queenless hives (I asked someone to look after them while I was away on holiday, and they applied their own methods :-(

I extracted several of the cells, put them in protectors, and put them into the q-less hives.

I opened one of the cells out of curiosity - it looked rather small. Out came a rather pale virgin.

I'll read the books next time.

 

[Jeff Buzz]

So I often "harvest" Queen Cells and take a look inside when I do a AS. If I have 15 QC on frames I take them all off except one the ones I take off I sometimes keep a few to see if they hatch, some I squish some I open to see how far they have developed.

What should I do take them to the bee orphanage?

I think folks should perhaps get real I can see nothing wrong with what the original poster has done all part of the learning curve IMHO

 

[Polyanwood]

If you don't wear gloves, you can usually gently hold the queencell between your thumb and forefinger and feel the queen moving inside. I find the livelier ones are more likely to make it.

 

[betterbee]

booked into your queen rearing demo next week,keith looking forward to meeting again [bring 1 of your super queens for everyone in the audience]
martin