On July 19th (17 days ago) my hive swarmed, and I was lucky enough to be around to catch it (my first swarm catch, yay!). The swarm (new colony) is doing fine, but I started to notice that the old parent colony were acting weird. They seemed noisy and they would attack me whenever I fed them. My father has a few years more experience than I do, so I mentioned it to him and he said it sounds like they might be queenless. I did a full inspection this morning and sure enough there is no brood whatsoever and I couldn't find a queen. I KNOW there were several queen cells in there just after the swarm, so I can only speculate that something happened to the new queen - maybe on her mating flight she got eaten by a bird or washed out of the sky by all the lousy rain we've had this year. Dunno.
Anyway, I did find a local supplier who has queens for sale, so I'm planning on installing a new one on Saturday (wish I could do it before then, but I won't have the time to pick her up until then).
My question is this: The bees in this parent colony are probably pretty long in the tooth by now, so will they be able to live long enough to care for a new queen and brood? The swarm happened over 2 weeks ago, so the youngest bees in the colony must be at least that old. Most of them are probably a month, even 2 months old, right? Do you think they can hang in there for a few more weeks to care for a new generation of brood once the new queen starts laying?
I guess if I have to, I can grab a frame or two of brood and nurse bees from the new colony (the one that swarmed), but that colony is just coming up to speed. They have brood, but not a huge amount of it, and I'd hate to steal any unless it's really necessary.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks!
-Diggity
Quote from: diggity on August 05, 2009, 10:33:22 AM
On July 19th (17 days ago) my hive swarmed, and I was lucky enough to be around to catch it (my first swarm catch, yay!). The swarm (new colony) is doing fine, but I started to notice that the old parent colony were acting weird. They seemed noisy and they would attack me whenever I fed them. My father has a few years more experience than I do, so I mentioned it to him and he said it sounds like they might be queenless. I did a full inspection this morning and sure enough there is no brood whatsoever and I couldn't find a queen. I KNOW there were several queen cells in there just after the swarm, so I can only speculate that something happened to the new queen - maybe on her mating flight she got eaten by a bird or washed out of the sky by all the lousy rain we've had this year. Dunno.
Anyway, I did find a local supplier who has queens for sale, so I'm planning on installing a new one on Saturday (wish I could do it before then, but I won't have the time to pick her up until then).
My question is this: The bees in this parent colony are probably pretty long in the tooth by now, so will they be able to live long enough to care for a new queen and brood? The swarm happened over 2 weeks ago, so the youngest bees in the colony must be at least that old. Most of them are probably a month, even 2 months old, right? Do you think they can hang in there for a few more weeks to care for a new generation of brood once the new queen starts laying?
I guess if I have to, I can grab a frame or two of brood and nurse bees from the new colony (the one that swarmed), but that colony is just coming up to speed. They have brood, but not a huge amount of it, and I'd hate to steal any unless it's really necessary.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks!
-Diggity
If you have a couple of frames of capped brood in there you will be OK.
to early i think because the hive will swarm before new queens hatch, 2-3 weeks before new queen starts laying, before I bought a new queen I would put a frame of eggs and young brood in this hive and see if they draw cells, you could have a queen but hasn't started laying yet, better than losing money on a new queen they might kill, if they do draw cells get you a new queen but if they dont they probably have a queen that just hasn't started yet...
Thanks for the responses. Ted, I'm confused by your last statement: "if they do draw cells get you a new queen but if they dont they probably have a queen that just hasn't started yet..." What do you mean by "draw cells?" Does this mean capping brood? Why do you say I would need a new queen if they draw cells? Sorry for my naivety, I'm still kinda new at this. ;)
Thanks!
-Diggity
Quote from: diggity on August 05, 2009, 02:37:08 PM
Thanks for the responses. Ted, I'm confused by your last statement: "if they do draw cells get you a new queen but if they dont they probably have a queen that just hasn't started yet..." What do you mean by "draw cells?" Does this mean capping brood? Why do you say I would need a new queen if they draw cells? Sorry for my naivety, I'm still kinda new at this. ;)
Thanks!
-Diggity
what I mean is queen cells, they will draw queen cells if they dont have a queen, being that you are in the north you might not have a month for them to raise a new queen so it would be best to destroy those new queens cells if they draw them and introduce a mated queen, if they dont draw queen cells odds are you have a queen that just hasn't started laying yet. because of the time frame you are talking about when they swarmed, and if you dont see new eggs by next week then put another frame of eggs and young brood in the hive and see if they drawn out queen cells. you have to find out if there is a queen in the hive if you can't find her or you could be waisting time and money by trying to introduce a new queen.
Ahhh OK, I get it now. Sounds like a plan.
Much thanks!
-Diggity