I had a couple of hives swarm approimately 14 days ago. I caught two of the swarms and started new hives. I also saw another large swarm and it was gone by the time I got a hive box ready for them. I also found a queen with about 200 bees with her and I got them to go into a swarm box but they disappeared the following day.
So today I decided to go into the hives and see what had taken place. I have these hives set up with two deep boxes and two medium supers on them. At first glance it loooks like the bees have used some of the honey or maybe they moved it down. I took the med boxes off and started inspecting the deep frames.
I found that there is absoulutely no brood or larva or eggs. I was not able to locate a queen, but there are still alot of bees in there. I did notice alot of drones. I found approx. 6 hatched queen cells in each hive. Thes are the hives I was thinking of combining with the swarms I caught.
Now the questions I have. Is it possibile that there is a virgin queen in there and shes not laying yet? Should I take a frame of brood and larva and put one in each hive? Should I just combine the swarms I have with these two hives? I have to say that I'm not very good a seeing eggs, so I'm concerned that I would have trouble finding the right frames.
Any suggestions JP, Kathy, anybody, everybody.
Thank you Leechmann
Cure for newbie jitters.
Take two beers and call me in two weeks. :)
She should be laying in both hives by then.
Two weeks is not enough time for the new queen to be laying. A frame of eggs/brood can't hurt - if there is a virgin queen in the hive they probably won't make any queen cells with the eggs. Having larva around lessens the chance workers will start laying. But the way you described it, everything is normal. Do as iddee says...
Thanks, I'll by a 12 pack then. lol
wait for it..... :-D
hey....i did it a few weeks ago. waited and waited for the virgin queen i KNEW was in there. after 4 weeks i went and spent money on a queen. took her to the hive, and found that queen i'd been waiting for, fat, happy, and laying. had to make a split i hadn't intended to make, just to accommodate the queen i'd purchased :evil:
if you have the brood to spare, it's not a bad idea to stick some in. either older brood to keep numbers up until your queen is laying, or eggs to see if they try to make a queen....or both. your choice. either way, you'll have a learning experience.
Quote from: kathyp on July 13, 2009, 01:35:40 PM
wait for it..... :-D
hey....i did it a few weeks ago. waited and waited for the virgin queen i KNEW was in there. after 4 weeks i went and spent money on a queen. took her to the hive, and found that queen i'd been waiting for, fat, happy, and laying. had to make a split i hadn't intended to make, just to accommodate the queen i'd purchased :evil:
if you have the brood to spare, it's not a bad idea to stick some in. either older brood to keep numbers up until your queen is laying, or eggs to see if they try to make a queen....or both. your choice. either way, you'll have a learning experience.
I just want to say Kathy, you gave me good advise. I placed a frame of brood and eggs in the swarm hive and inspected it tonight. I found 3 capped queen cells, in there all on that frame. I wish one of them would be on another frame as I would move that one to another hive that seems to be having queen troubles.
Thanks for you advise. Leechmann
Quote from: iddee on July 12, 2009, 11:33:53 PM
Cure for newbie jitters.
Take two beers and call me in two weeks. :)
She should be laying in both hives by then.
X:X X:X X:X X:X I like it iddee
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 134