We're first time beekeepers, so please bear with our newness and probably silly questions...Oh Such Drama!
We received our bees on Thursday 4/8 in Central TX. We placed them in our brand new top bar hive and all appeared to be peachy. We took the empty queen box out on Saturday.
On Sunday afternoon (4/11), we noticed a big blob of bees (roughly a foot in diameter) about 15 ft from the hive. Upon further investigation, we found the queen in the blob - we put her back in the hive.
On Monday afternoon (4/12), we noticed a small blob of bees (about 4 inches in diameter) about 5 feet from the hive, and found the queen in that pile as well... we put her back in the hive.
The next morning, we pulled the hive about 2 feet further into the sun & out of the shade, we also changed the type of sugar water we were offering. (from an all natural cane sugar to turbinado/regular blend).
Friday (4/16) We looked for the queen on Friday, but did not find her. Comb production and honey was progressing nicely, but I didnt't see any eggs or brood.
Today, Monday (4/19) we did a thorough inspection of the hive and found the queen (thank heavens for that giant green dot!) - 4 bars into the hive, right where I'd expect her to be , but we did not find any eggs in the combs of the 3rd, 4th or 5th bars. They are going through a quart jar of honey every two days, and they are bringing in lots of pollen.
I realize we're not quite at the two week mark, but could they have been trying to tell us the queen was defunct when she left/got thrown out...? Could there be another queen in the hive that we haven't been able to see? Shouldn't we be seeing eggs by now?
Any advice/bee psychology would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Cheryl
Its really hard to see new eggs in new white comb.
You can place a queen excluder above the bottom board. That should keep her in there.
You have not had the hive long enough for a new queen to have been raised. If you see eggs (and you should be seeing larvae too), I would leave it like that.
I have heard of bees 'rebelling' against a queen, causing her to flee with some of the other bees, but I have never witnessed it.
But it's a top bar hive...
Anyway, you've done fine. Sounds like they have settled in. I've seen caged queens take as long as a few days past two weeks to start to lay. I'm sure she will, but if she hasn't after two and half weeks, I look at getting some open brood in there. In fact you could do it sooner if you have some and if you want to build a frame to tie the comb into...
Just an update...
I finally found larva & eggs on Sunday. I didn't see Her Majesty during the last examination, but I am sooo relieved to see babies.
Thanks to everyone for their assistance.
You're hooked in now...
you will learn pretty quickly that if there are eggs that you don't need to find the queen. She was there within three days ago.
Welcome to another female beek, cfoster! I was incredibly impressed that you, a new beek, were able to repeatedly find the queen in a ball of bees.....until I got the part about the green dot :-D Still impressive. So glad your queen is doing her job. Aren't new eggs on fresh wax the coolest sight in the world?
There must be a trick to finding the queen, six hives, 3 years I think I saw a queen once....I could tell by the five O'clock shadow.
Several tricks...
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm)