Hello everybody,
On our collective rooftop beekeeping project we have a hive with Russian bees (primorsky).
It has some queen cells in it and I was wondering if I could combine a frame with a some russian queen cells and bees with a very weak hive containing 4-5 frames of Italian bees (the queen is laying lots of 2 eggs, there are few eggs laid, etc).
Do you think the Italian strain bees might have acceptance issues ?
Cheers
i think you will be fine if they need a queen. it is not uncommon to requeen hives with different strains. if the hive you are putting the frame in has a queen, kill her. i would wait until the next day to introduce your queen cells if you know their age and are sure they won't hatch in that time, but i know some will do it the same day. watch those cells. they hatch in much shorter time than workers and you want to move them before you lose them.
Excellent, I'll try it out like that.
Thank you.
Quote from: mushmushi on July 12, 2011, 11:57:06 PM
Hello everybody,
On our collective rooftop beekeeping project we have a hive with Russian bees (primorsky).
It has some queen cells in it and I was wondering if I could combine a frame with a some russian queen cells and bees with a very weak hive containing 4-5 frames of Italian bees (the queen is laying lots of 2 eggs, there are few eggs laid, etc).
Do you think the Italian strain bees might have acceptance issues ?
Cheers
mushmushi Has this hive been weak for a long time ? Do you think you could have lost the Queen a while ago
and now have laying workers?
I'm new but thought a queen (other than young/newly mated) may lay some 2 egg cells
I don't think a proven queen goes backward and lays double eggs in a cell
I hope someone else speaks up
Tommyt