what to do with a Carniolan queen

[Nancy Vona]

I would like some advice. I ordered a Carniolan queen (she arrived today) and am trying to decide in which hive I should place her. I have two splits that I made from a two-deep overwintered hive of indeterminate stock. One split (colony A) was made April 30 (in hindsight, probably too early to make a split) in a medium box with very young larvae and moved to a new beeyard. I saw several queen cells on May 15, one of which looked as though it had been opened. Saw the queen in June 3. Last week I saw 3 frames of capped brood, uncapped larvae, and the queen. The population does not seem very strong but the queen is laying. 

The second split (Colony B)was made on May 25, from the same overwintered hive. This split is housed in a nuc. Into this nuc I put three frames of young larvae and eggs and a queen cell cut out of another hive. The queen cell wasn’t viable but the population of this nuc is thriving. I have been looking for queen cells and saw one on June 3. Last week I checked and the cell looks like it was ripped open. I didn’t see the queen but the frames are so populated I may have missed her. 

I don’t know whether I should place the queen in colony A (I’d remove the queen already there and replace her a day later) or in colony B that has a ripped cell. 

A third option would be my taking some frames of brood and nurse bees, putting those into a Nuc, and banking this queen in the Nuc for now until I decide. 

I know I need to get her into a colony somewhere and it's supposed to be cloudy/rainy the next several days.  

Any advice?

-Nancy

[Mike Garvey]

Hi Nancy,

From what you write, it seems that you have no proof that you have a queen in Colony B. Did you look for eggs?  You might have a queen "in process" in Colony B and not yet have eggs.  Introducing another queen to Colony  B would be unwise, if that is the case.  You should expect to see eggs 3-4 weeks after the split; 5/25 plus three weeks is 6/15.

 

If I were you, I'd put the new queen into a nuc with nurse bees until you are sure of the status of Colony B.

 

Mike

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[Nancy Vona]

Thanks, Mike, 

I started getting nervous about the impending rain so I wound up doing exactly what you suggested below (followed the same decision making process as you did).  

Nancy

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