SO I came home from work today to a cloud of bees in my backyard and knew exactly what had happened but I certainly wasn't expecting it. I'm now looking, as I write this, at half of my have in the top of my tree, mocking me.
It is too high in the tree to recover and I have resigned myself to the fact that there really is nothing that I can do about it at this point.
My question now is where do I go from here. Do I let the hive that is left continue on its natural course and make their own queen? If I do, what if said Queen mates with an Africanized drone (I'm in Southern California)? What if the new Queen doesn't return at all and I miss my seaonal window to order a new Queen?
This hive is a rescue I got out of an old cat tree in someone's backyard. It has been the most productive hive that I've had. So much so that I really haven't been able to keep up with the speed at which they're producing, leading me to where I am now. I hate to do 'em wrong at this point.
Suggestions?
what's going on inside? you no doubt have some pretty mature queen cells in there already. you won't miss your window. you should be able to get a queen for 3 more months.
if you let them requeen and you don't like the results, you can still buy a queen.
do you have a swarm trap out?
No, I don't have a trap out. I'm just a hobbiest with one hive. My wife and the size of my yard limits what I'm able to have. If I did catch a swarm I wouldn't have anywhere else to put it, and I only have 2 brood boxes right now, so if I recovered this one somehow and put them back in, they'd just be gone again.
I should've gotten a 3rd brood box 2 seasons ago and just haven't (that'll be rectified post haste). Right now I just have 2 brood boxes and a honey super.
To be honest I wasn't expecting this, this soon. I didn't figure I'd have this problem until next year. In March this was a rescued queenless hive that had died down to a ball of bees about as big as a softball. in a very short time they've built comb and filled it far beyond my expectations.
The reason I'm worried about not being able to order a queen is that the 2 places that I have found local to me who supply queens show to stop shipping at the end of June. I guess I can expand my search.
So maybe I should let it take it's natural course, then re-queen if I'm not happy with the results?
that's up to you. if you buy a queen, you need to destroy any queen cells that are in there and introduce your new queen slowly (leave her caged), but those cells may be hatching now, or very soon, so you will have to decide. no pressure :-D
ROFLMAO!!! No Pressure! LOL, :-P :-D. I think I'm going to order a new queen tomorrow and have her overnighted. Just makes me nervous limiting myself to one option, but that's where I am no matter what I do I guess.
If the Queen just swarmed today, there's no need to jump in with a new bought Queen right now. Even if there isn't a Queen cell, if the Old Queen left some newly laid egg the colony can make one a Queen. After hatching she would have to get bred. I had a swarm move into a empty hive this spring. When I checked them they were bringing in pollen and nectar, but had no brood. I took a frame of uncapped brood from another hive and put in there. They are one of best hives now. You may want to get some more hives for when you need to do splits or to put a swarm into, or just for your colony. I don't have a lot of hives but I have 2, with 2 brood boxes and 2 supers, 1 with 2 brood boxes and 3 supers, and 1 with 4 supers. That swarm that moved in, when I was getting honey to extract a few weeks ago, they had enough that I got a ten frame medium super of honey from them. After extracting, last week I got to put slung supers back on hives. That hive had another super ready. Good luck
Joe
As KathyP says, buying a queen is up to you. In my bee yard the parent hive almost always goes on ticking just fine. New queen cells hatch, mate, and are back up and running in short time. There is always the possibility of losing a secondary swarm if you had a descent sized hive. When multiple queens cells hatch, they can each take some bees and swarm. I know that's a discouraging thought at this point, but the parent hive usually does just fine in the end.
One downside to not purchasing a queen is that any new queen that is yet to emerge in the hive will be awhile before she is laying. Whereas a newly purchased mated queen will begin laying in a mater of days. So you won't loose time in building.
On the other hand a break in the brood cycle can be good for mite control....
Alfred
Thank you all. I'm now leaning more towards just letting them take their course and make their own Queen. They did once before and everything turned out fine, so why am I worried? I feel like a parent whose kid just moved out on their own.
My other concern is the new queen mating with an africanized drone. I didn't think about it when I first rescued this hive, but now we've had 2 attacks with 3 people hurt in Southern California since I got this hive. Am I being overly cautious or is this a valid fear? Would it even matter if she did and would re-queening fix that problem?
Kudzu, I've been reading this post and didn't take into account your were in AHB territory. Ask someone at the local bee club, however if it were me I'd probably buy a queen. You may not know that they are AHB influenced until they eat you up.
I have zero experience on this subject. This is just my overated two cent worth.
Good point GSF.
Buy some Michigan queens :-D
There is no guaranty a queen from a local queen breeder won't be Africanized. They usually sell 'em as soon as they see 'em start laying.
I checked the hive for the first time today since they swarmed. I saw several opened Queen cells but couldn't get an eye on the Queen. They wouldn't let me. I have never been swarmed like that. Never followed like that. The deeper I got in the hive, the angrier they got. Stingers all over my cover alls and gloves. One managed to get in my veil, didn't sting me though. I hollered at my neighbor to get inside after he came out on his back porch for a smoke.
I've never been scared or worried when working with my bees and I've had queenless hives before and all that, but this was different. I don't want to do what I think I have to do. Nobody wants to put their own dog down, but I'm surrounded by kids and active outdoor neighbors and dogs. I just can't risk someone getting hurt..... :( :( :(
Anyone have any further suggestions? I now feel like I've got ticking time bomb in my back yard and I have to defuse it as soon as possible.
I've had a hive for five years and it's been wonderful, but this might be it for me.
Put 'em down, then back up and punt. (start over) At least you'll have drawn comb.
They're down and done. My wife took my dogs out the front of the house so they could use the bathroom and 3 or 4 bees chased her and the dogs down the street and back, while I was inside researching what to do. After that I went to HD and picked up some pesticide......I really hated to. Tried to save the honey at least, but no. As soon as I stepped near I was swarmed twice as bad as before and made the decision to just start spraying. This all went so wrong so quickly..... Do the wax caps protect the honey from pesticide or is this a total loss?
I wouldn't eat it.
I second the don't eat.
Maybe next time, if there is a next time, go out there at night and cover them with black plastic. If you didn't open the hive you still may have some survivors.
On this note, what IS the best way to "put down" a hive that has gotten this bad, yet still salvage the equipment, comb and stores?
I am thinking that a large heavy trash bag to cover the hive (done at night wearing a suit of armor :-D). Then a good size chunk of dry ice (carbon dioxide) or a cup of liquid Nitrogen (I used to have an AI tank so it was available) placed inside and sealed as tight as possible.
Neither gas is poison but critters can't breathe it either. Nor would the use contaminate the equipment or honey. After the adults are gone, any frames of capped brood could be frozen just to be sure they are dead.
Many pesticides linger for long periods. Especially some of those wasp sprays.
Quote from: MsCarol on June 16, 2014, 12:03:39 PM
On this note, what IS the best way to "put down" a hive that has gotten this bad, yet still salvage the equipment, comb and stores?
I am thinking that a large heavy trash bag to cover the hive (done at night wearing a suit of armor :-D). Then a good size chunk of dry ice (carbon dioxide) or a cup of liquid Nitrogen (I used to have an AI tank so it was available) placed inside and sealed as tight as possible.
Neither gas is poison but critters can't breathe it either. Nor would the use contaminate the equipment or honey. After the adults are gone, any frames of capped brood could be frozen just to be sure they are dead.
Many pesticides linger for long periods. Especially some of those wasp sprays.
This is the method I've heard of.
Soapy water will suffocate the bees. Shouldn't hurt the hardware. Mixed in a sprayer.
I wish I had a better solution than one I had used. I had a sense of urgency compounded by fear for safety and just went with the quickest solution.
I still have the capped honey. Just haven't been able to convince myself to throw it out. It's 43 lbs of the last harvest I'm going to have for a long, long time to come. AFter removing the honey from the hive I immediately washed all of it under the hose, washing away all the uncapped honey. The next morning I triple rinsed every single side with soapy water in a spray bottle and made extra sure to clean every single uncapped chamber of honey. Everything that was capped is unharmed leading me to think that it may be o.k.
This may be incredibly stupid to even consider, and I haven't fully decided yet, but I may end up using it...