Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: samsungpizza on June 18, 2013, 11:06:45 PM

Title: Queen not laying
Post by: samsungpizza on June 18, 2013, 11:06:45 PM
I pulled my queen and two frames of mostly sealed brood from a strong hive, and put them in an 8 frame medium, three days ago, including attached bees. I checked on them today, and couldn't find any eggs. Might be just my sight. Would the move temporarily halt her production? Other than that, all looks normal, including queen. I watched her for a while, and she was being tended to, but she wasn't laying. I'll look for larvae in a few days and know for sure. She might be teaching me patience.
Title: Re: Queen not laying
Post by: Kathyp on June 18, 2013, 11:32:52 PM
did you think the original hive was about to swarm?  if you caught her right before she left she might have slimmed down and quit laying in prep to  fly.  i'd give her a few more days. 

if you are not sure that you are seeing well, take pictures.  the eggs are much easier to see on the computer screen!   ;)
Title: Re: Queen not laying
Post by: samsungpizza on June 19, 2013, 12:46:30 AM
I don't think they were preparing to swarm. She's an overwintered queen, and I kept the brood box open. I only moved her so the donor hive would have to make another queen, breaking the mite cycle, and hopefully gaining some honey in the process. Thanks for reply. I like the idea about taking a picture. Didn't think of that. Dont lug out my 8x magnifiers unless I'm grafting. Getting to the point I need to wear them 24-7.