I've got a mess and will appreciate any advise.
On April 29 I hived two packages added to the beeyard along with my only survivor colony.
On May 9 we had a bear, it just tipped over one of the packages, no harm.
But major damage was done to brood in my only survivor colony. Amazingly, I found the queen in a pile of frames on top of the only remaining patch of brood (missed by bear). This 'was' a very strong colony, having survived several Wisconsin winters and was recently successfully combined with another (queenless) survivor colony I had been given.
My dilemma and questions are; The two packages have become drone laying machines (I've already contacted the supplier) as it can be assumed they arrived in poor condition. Poor things left Texas with 95F temps and got to Minnesota (my pick up) with 35F degrees and rain.
My survivor colony has no brood to share with these packages as it is just starting to rebuild after the bear attack.
Is it too late to introduce a new :? :? queen to these packages?
Can I/should I combine 'both' packages to my remaining survivor (to split later)?
Thanks for any advise.
thomas
As long as they haven't become laying worker hives it is still possible to requeen.
If there is even a few fertilized eggs being layed you may soon see attempts to supercede.
Sounds like your packages were give unmated queens, which means by the time they were released into the packages they were beyond mating age.
Too often in queen and package operations, where timing can be of the essence, it becomes the only factor in harvesting queens. Weather can disrupt the timing factor to a degree that virgin queens are the result. Evidence of egg laying is overlooked or disregarded.
In the method of queen rearing I use, I don't harvest a queen for placement in another hive until she as layed at least one full medium frame of brood, preferrably more.
Thanks Brian. The only capped brood in these packages are drones. My supplier (as yet to be mentioned) promised mated queens which is what I've gotten from them for several years (until now it seems).
Someone mentioned temp changes as possible causes. Could/would that cause queens to revert and/or fail? Should I demand new mated queens or just purchase new ones (I'm willing to do either although I don't want to spend dollars on queens that will be killed either).
I can get queens delivered UPS over night (for a price). This has never been an issue before so its all new to me and I don't want to tick off the supplier with demands that are not reasonable so your input on how to proceed is greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
thomas
Quote from: T Beek on May 22, 2011, 08:55:46 AM
Thanks Brian. The only capped brood in these packages are drones. My supplier (as yet to be mentioned) promised mated queens which is what I've gotten from them for several years (until now it seems).
Someone mentioned temp changes as possible causes. Could/would that cause queens to revert and/or fail? Should I demand new mated queens or just purchase new ones (I'm willing to do either although I don't want to spend dollars on queens that will be killed either).
I can get queens delivered UPS over night (for a price). This has never been an issue before so its all new to me and I don't want to tick off the supplier with demands that are not reasonable so your input on how to proceed is greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
thomas
If your supplier cares about his reputation then contact him and explain the situation, he should make it good, at least once. Every queen breeder comes up with a bad queen now and then, don't hold it against him until he's had the chance to correct the problem or the correction is just a continuation of the problem. Then scratch him off your list and seek a new supplier.