I did a complete hive inspection today. No queen. No eggs. No larvae. Only a bazillion bees and a lot of honey and some pollen. What should I do? :'(
I was so upset I forgot to give you some background info. I have 1 2nd year hive. 8 frame. Two boxes high with a honey super on top of it. I did see over a dozen queen cups. To my knowledge they were queen cups. I had my reading glasses on but I didnt see any eggs. I brought in 2 frames of honey and replaced them with empty frames. I will put on my super duper magnifying glasses and look them over.
If you have another hive whose performance you like, you can take a frame of eggs/new larvae and give it to this hive. They will raise a queen up from it.
If you have no other hives (or none with the genetics you want to spread), then you need to order a queen.
It is my only hive. Where do I order queens from? Mail?
At is possible the bees swarm out the how you got a virgin queen. If so she will be mate and laying egg in about 2 weeks.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
All the queen cups were empty.
Look in your brood nest area. If they backfill (honey or pollen) it too much the queen will not be able to lay and have swarm out. If they run out of room by backfilling than will swarm most of the time.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
The virgin queen is out and virgin queen are hard to find in a big hive.
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
I went thru the whole thing twice. The frames are filled very nice. not over filled with honey. Beautiful pattern with honey layering the tops and then some pollen below that and then, sadly, all those empty cells where my little larvae used to grow. I had put in 2 empty frames last month to open up the brood nest.
Thank you Jim, for taking time to respond.
It sounds like you are between day 21 and day 30 after the swarm. I would find a queen source, make sure one will be available for shipment, and wait for 10 days. If no eggs then, I would order the queen and install her.
Quote from: iddee on June 01, 2012, 08:10:51 PM
It sounds like you are between day 21 and day 30 after the swarm. I would find a queen source, make sure one will be available for shipment, and wait for 10 days. If no eggs then, I would order the queen and install her.
Good advice. I do have two questions. Undeveloped queen cups or hatched queen cells? Any scattered capped brood?
Good Luck, Steve
Quote from: asprince on June 01, 2012, 08:29:42 PM
Quote from: iddee on June 01, 2012, 08:10:51 PM
It sounds like you are between day 21 and day 30 after the swarm. I would find a queen source, make sure one will be available for shipment, and wait for 10 days. If no eggs then, I would order the queen and install her.
Good advice. I do have two questions. Undeveloped queen cups or hatched queen cells? Any scattered capped brood?
Good Luck, Steve
The queen cups were open on the ends and empty. I didnt notice any capped brood. hmmm. Since I have no idea if and when they swarmed, how long will the bees survive without a queen?
Stella
As Iddee said a queen should have hatched out of one of the queen cells. It will take two weeks for her to mate and start laying. Wait 10 days and see if she starts to lay. If not borrow a frame of eggs and brood from someone and order a queen. More than likely she will be laying by than.
Good luck
John
My hives are still kind of new but if she has no queen could I give her a frame of eggs and brood or would this be bad for my hive? Stella where in MN are you?
Hi Lori. That is so kind of you. I woudnt want to deprive your hive in its first year. We will see what the board posts about it.
I sent you a personal message. Let me know if you get it.
Lori, if your hive is more than 42 days old, it wouldn't be all that detrimental to remove a frame if you leave at least 3 frames of brood. You would have to check your hive for strength and decide from there.
Quote from: stella on June 02, 2012, 11:03:03 AM
Hi Lori. That is so kind of you. I woudnt want to deprive your hive in its first year. We will see what the board posts about it.
I sent you a personal message. Let me know if you get it.
I got the PM. my hives are doing pretty good as far as I can tell, the one was started with a nuc and I actually gave them drawn comb so they have been busy. I really don't see why I couldn't give you a frame from that hive. I am kind of a jaunt from you though I am by Shakopee/Chaska area. I am going to PM you the phone# of the guy I got my package from I think he is in St. Cloud(I might be wrong about that though it might be Stillwater) and he might have queens. Either way I am here if you need a frame
Stella, I sent you a name and address of someone who might be able to spare a frame of eggs and larva. If not let me know. I am inspecting my hives tomorrow and should be able to get you a frame for your hive.
Tim
Thanks Lori. I got your PM.
I did locate a beek about 20 min from me. He is willing to sell me a frame but he said the problem in transporting the egg/larvae frame is that it cannot get chilled. And we are cool here. He thinks I should wait a few days and inspect again. (like some advised here also) So I will try that...if I can wait that long. :-\
Thank you all for your help. I will keep you updated.
Thanks Tim! I had a nice chat with Chester. I could of talked bees with him for hours.
For transport fill up some tube socks with rice tie shut and nuke them for about 2-3 min until warm put those in a cooler then the frame and they should stay nice and warm for transport
Stella,
I am sorry to hear about your queen. She hasn't been gone very long since there are still live bees in your hive. Please keep us informed as to what happens with this in the next few days and weeks as I am interested to learn from this. I appreciate your frustration but you can't control nature!
The last couple of nights it has been 45F here and up to mid 60's at best during the day. If you are experiencing similar temps (which you usually do) you will definately need to keep your new queen and/or your brood warm. I'd bet the bees took care of the situation and you have a new young queen in there.
All the best!
Algonam
Thank you Algonam. As usual I appreciate your support.
I am sending good vibes to my hive. I even gave the girls a pep talk. :-D
Update.
As my flurry of hive survival continues, I am doing my best to save my only hive. I have found that it is very difficult, understandably, to get folks to part with a frame of eggs and brood. I have contacted many. This whole scenario is a result of in-experience and bees deciding to swarm and my newbee ignorance. I managed to find a MN company to ship me a MN hygienic queen (my original stock). She arrives Friday. Im afraid it may be too late for the hive but I have to try. I fear I have failed.
Thanks to all who reached out to help me.
I think this is just a hiccup and your hive will be just fine in a few weeks! If I was closeby I could have given you a frame or 2 today, but I think you are a few hundred miles away!
Stella
Remember-bees have been with us for thousands of years. The hardest thing for any newer beekeeper is to be patient. I can not say for sure they
will requeen themselves but never give up. It would be a good idea to get a second hive. That way you can use one hive to help the other.
John
Thanks guys.
John, next year I will either order another package or make a split. I now can see how important it is to have 2 hives. *sigh*
Hey Algonam! You da man! Thanks friend. PS, Ive been locked out of my gmail account because I apparently dont appear to be who I was. I cant remember all these passwords. Its like this... I turned 50 and all of a sudden I no longer have a big enough hard drive to store all the info. :thunder:
Huh....does this mean I'll be having similar problems in 3 weeks? (when I turn 50!!) lol.
I know what you mean about the passwords!!!!!! My head can't hold any more of them, and I refuse to duplicate them.....
ps. I copied you on an email earlier today, so when you remember your pw look out for it. 8-)