Unsure if hive is queenless - mated queen added.

[daniblack13]

Hello,

Any advice on the below situation is very welcome!

I put a swarm into a hive on the 16th of June, left them for 3 weeks - no eggs being laid but colony collecting lots of pollen and nectar.
Monday 7th June - put a frame of eggs from another hive in.
Wednesday 9th June - no emergency cells being made but no site of a queen or any eggs still.
Wednesday 9th June. - mated queen placed in hive in cage, bees did not seem hostile towards her.


What do you think my next steps should be? The lack of emergency cells makes me think there may be a queen in there but the numbers are small and I have spent a long time looking for her, plus no eggs. What will happen if there is an existing queen in there but I have now added a mated queen in a cage? How will I know if it's suitable to release her in a couple of days?

Many thanks in advance.

Dani

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What will happen if there is an existing queen in there but I have now added a mated queen in a cage?

Goodbye new queen - bang goes forty quid or whatever you paid for her.

 

[Murox]

If your swarm came in with a virgin just over 3 weeks is optimistic for her to be laying just yet.

 

[daniblack13]

Goodbye new queen - bang goes forty quid or whatever you paid for her.

Thankfully she was only £15 from a friend.

Should I remove the caged queen a make a nut for her?

 

[Erichalfbee]

She’s still a queen and deserves to live. Yes make a nuc up for her.

 

[steve1958]

It's not easy spotting a virgin Queen in the hive.
However after she mates her body will grow in length and stand out more.

 

[jeff33]

2 days to look for emergency Qcs after introduction of frame is not enough..... I expect your mated queen will be killed on release as there is a virgin in there.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I expect your mated queen will be killed on release as there is a virgin in there.

You think she'll last that long? she's stuck in a cage and can't run away - good chance the VQ will get her through the bars.

 

[jeff33]

You think she'll last that long? she's stuck in a cage and can't run away - good chance the VQ will get her through the bars.

Cage fighting, round 1

 

[Kaz]

Worth having a closer look at the frames? The bees know whether they have a queen and I usually check the place on the frames where the queen would lay first, if there is a queen the bees will have nicely cleaned and polished the rugby ball shape cluster of cells ready for laying. If they're queenless they don't bother and they'll just have stores there?

 

[Mark Bleay]

Hello,

Any advice on the below situation is very welcome!

I put a swarm into a hive on the 16th of June, left them for 3 weeks - no eggs being laid but colony collecting lots of pollen and nectar.
Monday 7th June - put a frame of eggs from another hive in.
Wednesday 9th June - no emergency cells being made but no site of a queen or any eggs still.
Wednesday 9th June. - mated queen placed in hive in cage, bees did not seem hostile towards her.


What do you think my next steps should be? The lack of emergency cells makes me think there may be a queen in there but the numbers are small and I have spent a long time looking for her, plus no eggs. What will happen if there is an existing queen in there but I have now added a mated queen in a cage? How will I know if it's suitable to release her in a couple of days?

Many thanks in advance.

Dani

I would get her out quick. You already have a queen in there she just has not hot going yet. Your new queen will probably get killed I'm sorry to say.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I would get her out quick. You already have a queen in there she just has not hot going yet. Your new queen will probably get killed I'm sorry to say.

That’s what most of the replies say.

 

[madasafish]

" I put a swarm into a hive on the 16th of June, left them for 3 weeks - no eggs being laid but colony collecting lots of pollen and nectar. "

Time travel!

 

[robmort]

If your swarm came in with a virgin just over 3 weeks is optimistic for her to be laying just yet.

That's not optimistic, it's pessimistic. Sometimes they're laying in 4 days according to some.

 

[jeff33]

That's not optimistic, it's pessimistic. Sometimes they're laying in 4 days according to some.

That will be a prime swarm with a mated queen as it will take her 4-5 days to get back into laying mode.

 

[robmort]

That was my opinion but not according to one poster.....

If the weather's good, mating can be very quick. I looked at a cast after 4 and there was half a sheet of eggs.

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/plan-of-action-if-when-catch-a-swarm.50523/#post-771382

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That's not optimistic, it's pessimistic.

Not at all - it's realistic. Although I've seen queens mated and laying within days/a week or two of emergence, the reality is, I would not even bother checking a nuc until four weeks after a queen was due to emerge, and even then I wouldn't be downhearted on seeing no eggs.

 

[Murox]

That's not optimistic, it's pessimistic. Sometimes they're laying in 4 days according to some.

Bees don't work with a gregorian calendar - they operate in real bee time which contains far more variables.

 

[robmort]

Bees don't work with a gregorian calendar - they operate in real bee time which contains far more variables.

Shock news!
Still doesn't alter the fact that 3 weeks is pessimistic especially in this weather.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Do you actually know the definition of pessimism?