I have a bustling hive that I have some concerns about being possibly queenless. I inspect pretty much every week so I am guessing they are sick of me. My last two inspections were 10 days apart. They were very similar in that by the time I got to the broodnest in the bottom deep they were very noisy, many in the air and I had been stung. I am concerned about the queen because they had built queen cups in the middle of a frame. In the first inspection I peaked inside and saw nothing, second they were uncapped but I was less sure they were empty. Sorry I can't be more definitive. There is capped brood, 3-4 nice frames both sides and I did not check the entire brood nest. I stopped when I saw larvae. They have plenty of stores in fact seem chuck full but refuse to draw new comb.
Anyways, should I be worried about the queen cups? If they had not capped them in ten days does that mean they didn't need them? The queen won't lay an egg in a queen cup, or will she?
They are being harassed by yj's, could that be why they were so loud and more defensive than usual?
Are there indications from the outside that all is well?
They are not bothered by my presence outside the hive and they are coming and going like they are on a mission bringing in pollen and nectar.
If you got to the brood and found all that, then I would say the queen is doing her job. Queen cells are normal (like a backup plan) and the queen will normally deposit an egg if she is getting week. If queenless, I have found my bees rather nasty as soon as I go past the first box, be it a brood box or super. -Mike
Thanks, I am going to work on the yj's and give the hive a break from inspections for a couple weeks. They have been so pleasant to inspect until now, maybe I am just over analyzing. It is pretty disruptive to get to the bottom of three boxes.
They may be developing a learned behavior towards you. JP & Alan Buckley were talking about this at Bud6. JP had a cut out and the woman said when they first moved in 5 years ago they didn't bother her at all. Every year she would spray them down with wasp/hornet killer. It was speculated that after a period of time they were able to identify her as a threat.
On the other side of the coin. I went through my hives and all is well so like you I gave them a rest. two weeks later I lost about 3 or 4 swarms - that fast. Learning is fun :?
"Learning is fun"
Here's a good example.
I requeened a hive I thought was queenless and in the next inspection found the original queen (a marked carnolian)in the hive. Inspected the hive 2 feet away and found the new unmarked italian mutt queen in a hive that previously had a marked carniolan. So she got booted from one hive and took over the neighboring hive.
QuoteI stopped when I saw larvae. They have plenty of stores in fact seem chuck full but refuse to draw new comb.
what age
they are probably done drawing comb. they are getting ready for winter. they will store food and begin to seal the hive.
QuoteThey are being harassed by yj's, could that be why they were so loud and more defensive than usual?
yes, they will be far more aggressive if something is bothering them. see if you can do something about the yjs. they can take your entire hive down if they get bad enough and they will kill your queen.
you need to 1. use smoke. every. single. time.
and
2. verify that you have a queen. if you saw very small larvae or eggs, you are probably good and right to leave them alone. if you just saw big larvae and called it good, you need to go back in.
take some towels out with you. as you remove each box, cover it with a towel. it will help keep so many bees from getting into the air. smoke each box and you are entering and get in and out as quickly as you can. no need to dig through each box. just fine the newest brood and look at it.
you should be about done with any inspections. certainly by next month, which means you will only get in there one more time after this.. make a list of what you want to accomplish and then leave them alone to seal up the cracks and holes.
I have set out several traps for the yj's. the larvae were on the big side. I do use smoke, but I like the idea of covering the boxes as well.
Thanks, I will get in there this afternoon I guess to confirm eggs. This time I can go right to the bottom box. I will wear more protection as it helps me stay calm and focused.
I also was wondering if I my have brought about the queen cups due to my manipulation. About 4 weeks ago I moved three frames of brood up to the second box. This is where I found the cups. Is it possible the relocated bees thought they were queenless temporarily, or is that just a foolish newbee theory?
as someone pointed out, they make cups all the time. you may also have injured the queen, so make sure you either find her, or signs that she's been there in the last couple of days.
a camera lets you go back and look at what's on the frames. flashlight lets you look into the cups or bottoms of the cells.
if you need help with what you see, post the pics.
oh..if you take pics, make sure they are at the correct angle to get the bottom of the cells.
Thanks so much for the timely advice!
I started with the bottom box and kept the others covered. i saw no new larvae/ eggs. Checked the four frames I hadn't last time and they were mostly empty so plenty of room to lay.
Put the middle box on and discovered larvae on two sides of one frame that I am almost certain were not there last check. They would have been capped in 4 days? They were in a normal pattern in the center of each side, and much more than I saw 5-6 days ago.
I looked carefully in the queen cups for anything using a flashlight and did not see larvae, no changes. I tried to will myself to see eggs but it did not happen.
No pics as my husband took the camera to work.
They were much less runny today. I was able to take time with most brood frames to look for the queen and while I did not see her, I feel relieved, unless I have misread something.
you are probably ok. i'd do one more check before you button them up for winter just to make sure. do the same thing. just check enough to make sure that you have a queen and make sure there is plenty of food.
remember that the queen will have started backing off laying as the days get shorter, so don't panic if there's not tons of new brood. in the next check, determine how much room you need to leave and arrange things accordingly, then leave them alone for winter except to feed if you need to.
What do you mean when you say determine how much room you need?
you want to leave them a smaller space to keep warm over the winter. you'll take off any extra supers and sort of cram them into a smaller space. here, i winter in a deep and medium if it's a good size hive. at most, two deeps, but it would have to be a monster hive for that.
you take off what you are going to take off, and let them fill most of the rest with honey. either you feed, or they can gather if there is still stuff out there. you don't want a lot of empty space that they will have to heat.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,45498.0.html (http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,45498.0.html)
here is a thread already started on that, and you can search for more info. see what people are doing in your area.
OK I understand. I actually brought them down to two deeps today. I never had any supers on them, I wanted to let them have the honey the first year and feed as little as possible. They seem pretty full but it is still changing.