Wally Shaw's snelgrove 2

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Had to check stores so couldn't resist looking in quickly. Windy.... so not virgin mating weather. Found the survivor... not mated yet.
I stood over the hive with her in a plunger cage wondering whether it might be easier and less bother to do her in and unite back to the AS which is doing well.
Marked her instead and let her disappear between the frames. I might yet be back for her.

They are such horrid bees ....... both boxes ....... but her mother is a prolific layer and they are getting the honey in when it's not raining.
I will re-queen after any flow/decent weather we get.
 
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I had a look today on my two sides of this split.

The a/s side had only two frames of stores, and the rest was packed with brood so added both a feed and a super of foundation including a frame of starter strip. Today they are drawing it all out which is good news, but I was intending on using this super for me, but as this is probably going to be mainly sugar syrup I guess it's now for them. (Sigh)

The other queenless side has no brood left. It's a sad looking colony now. Plenty of stores, no sign of a new queen, runny bees. Masses of drones on one frame of pollen.

Strangely I saw a couple of play cups on one frame with two eggs. I'm guessing a laying worker?

Hope I get a mated queen soon, I want to unite these two asap, I suppose I could put in some eggs to test first?

Coming up for two weeks since I sprung the virgins
 
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Thanks guys. Any thoughts on the multiple eggs in play cups? I'm thinking that it must be a laying worker. I couldn't see any other eggs n the frames. I guess I will see if I start getting capped drone cells.
 
Nothing to lose from moving a frame of eggs/ young larvae from the Q+ side into the ?Q- side.
It will give you an indication if there is a queen in there, it will help delay laying workers and will give then a supply of young bees should they be Q+.
Win Win Win
 
Thanks, good point.

This may be a daft question, will the presence of a virgin queen pheromone be enough to suppress emergency queen cell building?
 
So, I half posted in another thread about laying workers.

I noticed that one of the cells I marked as having multiple eggs was being drawn out with Royal jelly. So I squished it, and put a frame of bias into the hive to find out once and for all what is going on

A few days later I have looked in to the half, of the brood and a half and have more cells being drawn out on the bottom of the frame being fed Royal jelly. And play cups with multiple eggs. No eggs in cells or larvae etc

I have squished them and actually removed the half as this colony doesn't need the space and the other side of the split does, so donated it to them.

In the brood box no fresh eggs, but the test frame has no emergency cell action. The bees are just working them, so I should have a virgin queen in there somewhere?

Goodness me? It seems like they are making swarm cells with worker eggs?

My head hurts. I was just going to confirm queenless and reunite the colony this weekend. Blooming bees.






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In the brood box no fresh eggs, but the test frame has no emergency cell action. The bees are just working them, so I should have a virgin queen in there somewhere?
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you MIGHT have a virgin queen in there bees not drawing QC's is not a positive indicator of there being a queen present.
Bees drawing QC's is a positive indicator of there being no queen
 
Hmmm. Thanks. Would's they draw qc's on unfertilised eggs like it seems to me?
 
SO, for the love of me I can't find a queen, virgin or otherwise in the parent colony. (The one with laying worker) Plenty of drone cells at the top of the frames, eggs, some with multple eggs in cells.

I bit the bullet and took the hive away and shook them out, leaving nothing. I expected them to go to the a\s side which is Poly nat, same colours etc, but they were bearded on my wooden commercial which has got a buiding colony of Italian's on about 6 frames when I went and looked.

I shook them out on a sheet and there was still no sign of a queen.

Fingers crossed.
 
Did you smoke them really well so that they have a bribe to take with them?
My parent hive had a surviving virgin when I last looked in. I marked her. They are not nice bees so I have left looking in again. Another split I made at the same time (was going to be a modified snelgrove too but after re-marking the queen the bees did her in so I just left the colony with 1 queen cell) has a newly laying queen.

PS: following the success of this second split (they are bringing me some honey as the colony is still large) It crossed my mind that just taking the queen away and reducing to one QC might be effective swarm control while maintaining a productive colony but Hivemaker has said in another thread that a large colony that has swarmed on a clipped queen might swarm again on the one virgin that remains after the one cell you leave has emerged. This, of course, renders the colony hopelessly queenless.
Comments anyone?
 
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I didn't, but now I wish I had. BUT, they were being let in without much trouble, I did see one of the 'invaders' chasing away one of the home team briefly.

Side note regarding marking, I clipped the queen in the commercial and put one of the magnetic numbered disks from Apinaut that I was given as a gift. On putting her back in she was balled a bit and I feared they would kill her but I have seemed to have got away with it. I have made a push in cage today which I will use next time.

Although I was secretly not that worried as these new bees are very quick to attack hands so a chance to replace wouldn't have been a disaster.
 
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Now this!......

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In one super above the queen excluder. It hasn't been enough time for laying workers to have got into this colony and have capped drone cells. So I'm hoping that it must be from moving supers about. I've lost track a bit of which box I moved where. Lesson learned.

I'm going to take those specific frames out and replace with foundation and hope that they are cells left over from before I shook the bees out.

Time will tell.
 
Another split I made at the same time (was going to be a modified snelgrove too but after re-marking the queen the bees did her in so I just left the colony with 1 queen cell) has a newly laying queen.

PS: following the success of this second split (they are bringing me some honey as the colony is still large) It crossed my mind that just taking the queen away and reducing to one QC might be effective swarm control while maintaining a productive colony but Hivemaker has said in another thread that a large colony that has swarmed on a clipped queen might swarm again on the one virgin that remains after the one cell you leave has emerged. This, of course, renders the colony hopelessly queenless.
Comments anyone?

Well it's worked once for you. I suppose it's how the bees feel at the time.

Anyone know a good bee psychologist? ;)
 

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