In need of a mated Queen

[Matt Weinberg]

Hello,

Hive swarmed 45 days ago, saw larvae 35 days ago and was hopeful but inspected today and have lots of drone cells. No evidence of capped brood.

Anyone have a mated queen by chance? 

Thank you

-Matt

[Greg V]

I am building a supply of summer queens and may have a spare.

But your case doesn't sound promising at this point - they may just kill the introduced queen and you waste your money.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "madbees" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to madbees+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAAUd6VpY5bcJyTmOUxsa_OpGKR1LYnu0MMp5etws1cLjQAgJMQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Matt Weinberg]

Well shoot, hive still has plenty of workers and I removed a lot of drone cells today.

Why would they kill her? Even if she is in a cage with fondant? 

If you have one I would appreciate it.

Thank you

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CABg%3DAC4AfP7zgB7k1VR2VkR_TuZjcZN-54TMLFeYAcK8K_xF-Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[Joseph Bessetti]

The drone cells are from laying workers.  The hive is very likely to kill an introduced queen unless you add some brood, wait a few more weeks until the brood is emerging. and then try to introduce a queen.

It’s not impossible, but the odds are stacked against you. You may want to try because it is your only colony. If it were mine, I would combine the bees with another hive and focus my energy elsewhere.

Joe

Joe

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAAUd6VrQ4rz_%3DDc3%3DHqPZoHwFEsNS99FtGB-1%2BPSLMJeuT1SQw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Greg V]

That pretty much sounds like the case.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CALpXLO1vn6Ah6SFRwZZQTMPUU%2BOuT3QyOg-j7bamE%2BjDBOtX9Q%40mail.gmail.com.

[Matt Weinberg]

So i should just let the hive go and call it a season?

I waited 30-35 days for a mated queen to return and thought i had one when I saw larvave and now im dealing with this at 45 days. 

Pretty frustrating, should of just popped a mated queen in earlier and played it safe i guess. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CABg%3DAC7_wr_gfdmgTb28%3Dgd82O%2B1kX3Jt%3D%3DkJrJH75o63nA5Cw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Greg V]

Once they enter the laying worker stage, it is neither economical nor resource-efficient to try turning them around.

It looks like you have a second hive (from earlier communications).
Focus on that now.

Shake the laying worker hive out and give the resources to the surviving hive.
You may even take some honey for yourself from the terminated hive.

In the future, when you have a second hive handy, just give the questionable hive a frame of eggs/young larvae without too much delay (after ~3 weeks I would do it).
That is your queen test and the potential fix, in one, while you have nothing to lose.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAAUd6VowHMsPkr%3DGCcG2vmPK_fR92sn0Fy%2B_3iQOTaLx0nnTtA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Matt Weinberg]

Well shoot, thank you Greg.

What should I do with that hive then? 

Being only my second year, first time experiencing this scenario. 

What can be done differently next time to avoid this? Waited to long to re-queen after the swarm? 

Thank you all

The fun and frustration of beekeeping is alive and well. 

-Matt

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CABg%3DAC47UHx-cQ3gpWf%3DDTpgjr9eHY51sv%3D7LRzO1TobavB3kg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Greg V]

Please re-read my message.
All your questions have been answered.
:)

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAAUd6Vres_4x-5sQk_VFXBpfHvnex%2BZVfj9%2BsaiFwd7vS5%2BgMQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Joseph Bessetti]

Clarification: you waited 30-35 days starting from when?  

Typically, if a hive swarms or we make a queenless split, the hive will have no remaining worker brood in 21 days. A queen cell is usually raised from a 1-2 day old larva, emerges in about 11 days, and is mated and laying in another 14. That’s 26 days and another week puts you at 33 - this is the limit: if you don’t have a laying queen you need to take action at this inspection. They’ve already been broodless for almost two weeks, and they haven’t had open brood for about four weeks (open brood has the laying worker inhibitor), so laying workers are already developing. 45 days is well beyond that.  

I think the take home message is that you don’t have a big window of time between giving them a mated queen too early and having it killed because they raised a queen and giving them a mated queen too late and having it killed because the hive has laying workers.  If you don’t want to roll the dice on the hive successfully requeening itself or worry about this window, get a mated queen in there within a couple days.

Rule of thumb: add queen immediately or wait and check at 28-30 days after the split or swarm. If no laying, give them a frame or two of open brood. This brood will help delay laying workers, and if they are queenless they will start queen cells. Check again 4-7 days later. The queen cells confirm that you need a mated queen asap; it is not generally advisable to let them try to raise a queen a second time.

Joe

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CAAUd6VowHMsPkr%3DGCcG2vmPK_fR92sn0Fy%2B_3iQOTaLx0nnTtA%40mail.gmail.com.