Ok I did a cut out today. I took out about a brood box worth of comb. There was about 2 frames of capped honey and a few more of nector and pollen. About a handful of drone comb and 7 drone cells. They were old because I pierced the cap and a young bee stared back at me and chewed her way out. That's it no eggs or larva. There were about 8 queen cups. I used my beevac but the hose had water and I made a huge pile of wet bees. Bonehead mistake I know. Well when I poured the mass on top of the frames of their new home most of them were alive just wet. Well the pile shifted on itself had it spread out and a blood orange abdomen glowed. Boom there is the queen she is huge and just a bright red orange in color. I caged her but I think I'll have to kill her. I mean she might be out of sperm and not fertile anymore. Or could she be a virgin? I would really want to keep her genetics. The hive was super gentle and she is a real pretty queen. Right now I'm doing a newspaper combine to a hive that got ransacked by a coon but its about 1 and 1/2 deep frames strong but it is looking good. I just figured it could use a boost. I guess is there a way to tell if I have a good workable queen?
My opinion, and opinion only. She is on day 21 through 24 in her cycle. She will be laying before day 36.
QuoteI guess is there a way to tell if I have a good workable queen?
turn her loose and see if she lays?
Ok well I released her with her bees. Man I hope she is a viable queens she is very pretty. Looks like a cordovan but with a reddish hue. I left the queen cage in my garage for a little bit and when I came back she had 3 attendant bees in there with her.
My guess is she is a new queen who will be laying in 48 hours...
Any time I'm in doubt as to how to proceed with a queen like what you've described I put her in a nuc to see how she performs. Keep a few nucs to have banked performing queens for situations like this. Personally, I'd release the queen in question back into the cutout and check back in a week to look for some eggs.
Aye I followed that advice D coats. I put her in one of my d. Coates nuc boxes :) thanks for that design by the way.
You're more than welcome. I can't imagine having hives without nucs for all the backup situations (no matter the design). What I came up with was due to my poor wood working skills and limited woodworking equipment.
Well it looks like she took off and took a lot of bees with her. I should have given her the pinch and combined hives.
Even in what appears to be a failure, a success can be had if something is learned. Don't be too hard on yourself, you just happened to end up on the stink end of the stick this time. We've all been there.