So today I opened the hives I split the other day. While I was gone the queen must have swarmed. One hive was queenless and I don't think they were on their way to raising one. But the other, That was the interesting one. I popped the lid and there was a queen, all by herself. Just sitting on top of an empty frame in an empty super, all by herself. I picked up the super and she started a high pitched buzzing. Almost a pipping. PBZZT, PBZZT, PBZZT. Very high pitched. I guess she got tired of my prodding cause she flew up a foot, than dropped back into the hive. I found her again on a frame in the next lower box, making the same noise. PBZZT, PBZZT. Well, I left her alone, almost, I compined the boxes back together with a newspaper and am hoping for the best.
Now, the questions. What Was That All About!?!? Was it a virgin queen? Will she go out into the wide world and breed. Will she come back. What was she doing by herself on a frame in the top box of my hive?
It's been an interesting and educational week at my house, I tell you what!
The noise sounds like she was piping, which would mean she was a virgin queen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_KihPy-s98
The other stuff is a mystery to me. :idunno:
The question left unanswered here, was there worker bees in the hive. The way you tell it it sounds like the queen was on a solo apartment search. If other bees in the hive, what was their conduct during the inspection? Was there drones present?
More info will provide a better answer.
Sounds to me the virgin was calling other virgins so she could locate, then kill them. I would check the bottom box to see what's going on.
The reason she was alone is because she is a virgin and the bees don't recognize her as a queen.
...JP
Just curious, were there any swarm cells in the box when you split it?
There are worker bees and drone. The workers were going about their business as if nothing special was going on a few frames away. As i got to the bottom box, the bees seemed to get more agitated. But not more defensive.
I didn't take a very good look at all for swarm cells when I did the split. I was short on time and being sloppy. Yesterday, I was much more thorough and did see a few queen cells. Maybe 3 that were opened (queen cups?), and one that was capped over.
The video is exactly the sound she was making. It was so cool!!! I was I had a camara to film it!