Queen weirdness

[marvin]

Lotta reports of queen loss and supercedure this year.  But sometimes it turns into good fortune.  Had a package with a beautiful queen in it.  Was increasing rapidly, and then boom, no queen.  Had lots of eggs, young larvae and capped brood, so I figured I just didn't see the queen that day.  Waited a couple of weeks, and its loaded with queen cells.  I counted twelve total.  A couple were smallish, but one was the biggest queen cell I've ever seen.  Anyways, why waste them on inter-queen rivalry?  I made a bunch of late splits with them and if they increase into winterability (I made that word up, BTW)  fine, and if not, I'll have some nice colonies with young queens to combine with come fall.  So I probably won't get a honey crop out of that package investment, but a pretty good return if the splits pan out.

[John Thompson]

It does seem that way with a number of hives/splits this year, with many having the goal of reaching"winterability" rather than honey.

On Wed, Jun 19, 2019, 12:11 PM marvin <marvin...@gmail.com> wrote:

Lotta reports of queen loss and supercedure this year.  But sometimes it turns into good fortune.  Had a package with a beautiful queen in it.  Was increasing rapidly, and then boom, no queen.  Had lots of eggs, young larvae and capped brood, so I figured I just didn't see the queen that day.  Waited a couple of weeks, and its loaded with queen cells.  I counted twelve total.  A couple were smallish, but one was the biggest queen cell I've ever seen.  Anyways, why waste them on inter-queen rivalry?  I made a bunch of late splits with them and if they increase into winterability (I made that word up, BTW)  fine, and if not, I'll have some nice colonies with young queens to combine with come fall.  So I probably won't get a honey crop out of that package investment, but a pretty good return if the splits pan out.

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[Matt H]

How sure are you they were queenless and weren't just in the process of swarming? It sounds like typical swarming behavior to me.

[marvin]

1.  They had plenty of room.  2.  I didn't find her in either examination, and she was a big queen.  and 3, the location of the cells.  All were up high on the frames, none at the bottom.  However, you're right in that you can never rule out anything with a package, especially this year.  It'll be interesting to see what transpires.  It wouldn't be the first time my lofty plans blew up in my face.