unmarked queens in hive with queen cups starting to show.

[biglongdarren]

ive a unmarked queen in a national hive with queen cups starting to show,i spent a while looking for her today but as am only a beginner she won the game of hide and seek.....what do i do now as swarm control when i cant find the queen,shes definitly there because theres lots of eggs..
Darren

 

[drstitson]

split hive in two and see which half gets tetchy. then go through the other 5 frames carefully.

 

[taff..]

written by Rooftops a few days ago....

Remember you don't have to find the queen to do an AS. Just put a brood box of foundation on the old site, with a few frames from the middle removed. Shake and brush all the bees from the old frames into the gap made by the missing frames. Replace the missing frames of foundation and put on a queen excluder on top and then the old brood box with all the old frames, in which you have removed all but one open queen cell. The young bees will be drawn up into the old box by the brood but the queen will remain behind. After a few hours remove the old box and place it on a new site a few yards away. Job done.

on this thread..http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=124231#post124231

 

[Midland Beek]

A queen cup is nothingness. Pretty much all comb has queen cups. If a queen lays an egg in a queen cup and the bees do not want to swarm, they egg will get destroyed. If the bees want to swarm, they will allow the egg to develop into a new queen. Once the egg changes into a larva the workers will start to extend the queen cell cup, thus creating a 'proper' queen cell.

So, what you got? Queen cell cups with nothing inside them? Or queen cells with queen larve inside them?

If you have got a batch of queen cells being constructed in a colony that is a sure fire message to you that they are wanting to swarm. A swarm can leave when the first (oldest) queen cell is sealed over.

Time to read the chapter called 'Swarming' in the bee book that you might not have bought/read.

 

[biglongdarren]

they have very young larvae in some of them.

 

[biglongdarren]

and the only spare hives i have are nucs and one that is slightly bigger than the national so i can set it on top or nothing,
Darren

 

[Poly Hive]

Three hives and no spare kit? A lesson in the making then it would appear.

I don't suppose the floors are detachable from the nucs either? How many nucs have you got?

Can you borrow a brood box or two from anyone? Or buy and make them up a bit quick?

Thought I had something useful about here... http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8945

PH

 

[biglongdarren]

i have two spare nucs and one spare hive but it is slighty bigger than a national,it holds one more frame than a national,not sure what it is,is any of this any use to me in this situation?
Darren.

 

[biglongdarren]

if i really had to i have plenty of supers,could i not set two of them on top of each other and use them as a brood box till i get better sorted?

 

[Poly Hive]

Check your pm

PH

 

[snoop]

Use your spare hive with frames of foundation only & put it in the location of the existing hive.

Move the existing hive 5 or 6 ft away. The flying bees will go back to the origional site. Now go though the hive very carefully & find the queen & move her with the frame of brood she is on back to the first site. The foundation will give the flying bees the notion they have swarmed & that should be the end of that the , queen should continue to lay as normal. You may have to make up something to hold the frame with the brood if the box you have is a different size.

You now have at the new location a hive with nurse bees & queen cells . Break down all but 2 of the open queen cells with royal jelly. WHen this queen that will emerge form one of the queen cells gets mated you can untie the stocks & get rid of the old queen

 

[biglongdarren]

hey all,thanks for all this,since my last post i have been running around the country like a lenty gathering wood,i now have just finished making my first hive and roof,will make a floor and rest tomorrow,it aint the prettyest looking hive but its made strong and made to last,thats two spare hives now and two spare nucs,should take me going for a bit.
i have also got in contact with my guru and he will pay me a visit tomorrow after hes moved hives to the orchards...thanks for the pm polyhive,much appreciated but i should be fine now...
Darren.

 

[Teemore]

Darren, Your spare hive could be a CDB - Congested Districts Board.

 

[biglongdarren]

got it all sorted today,queen found,marked and placed in nuc with a frame of brood and stores and took away to a new site,left the best queen cell in the main hive,will go back in a few days and go through and get rid of all the new queen cells that they'll have built.
Darren