Ok, so I recently installed a New NUC and released the queen 3 days after instillation. I went to do my first inspection today, 6 days after queen release, and found no queen. I looked through each frame and found no eggs and very few capped brood. I noticed two queen cells on the bottom of one of the frames. Now it is obvious to me that my queen was not accepted, or something happened to her, but what should I do now.
I am going to pick up and established hive tomorrow morning from a beekeeping mentor, and I was wondering if I should take a frame of brood from the new hive and put it into the queenless hive. I am afraid that even if they rear a new queen most of the current workers will be dead before she matures; leaving the new queen with almost no work force. Any advice would be welcome.
BH
No need to add eggs you said they have a queen started. In six days you will not have capped brood. In six days she may not even be laying. Are you sure they are queen cells. Sure you don't have cups and not cells. Is there an egg or larvae in the cell? Pic are always an asset if you are not sure. Later you can add brood to the hive from your new addition if you need.
Caste Hatch Cap Emerge
Queen 3.5 days 8 days +-1 16 days +-1 Laying 28 days +-5
Worker 3.5 days 9 days +-1 20 days +-1 Foraging 42 days +-7
Drone 3.5 days 10 days +-1 24 days +-1 Flying to DCA 38 days +-5
like sc-bee said.. cant be capped brood yet...
LOOK into those cell cups and see if they are charged.. meaning, is there a larvae in them?
If there is no open brood, then I doubt if they have a larvae in them..
Next best bet, is to install a new queen.. dont release her, let the bees release her by eating the candy plug. It should take them about three days if you dont poke any hole in the candy...
Next best, would be to give them a frame of eggs from the hive you are picking up, and let them make their own new queen....
IMHO The best thing to give bees queenless bees is a mature queens cell shorter time and higher acceptance rate of the new queen. This even works well with laying works in the hive
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)
Was this a nuc or package? A nuc usually comes with a laying queen in the box.
If it was a package installed on new equipment, foundation etc.,they will need time to set up house. If it is a package on new equipment,are you feeding?
If this is a package,they will need feed to get established as the colony size will be constantly decreasing until brood emergence exceeds the normal die off rate of the older foragers in the package. Also keep in mind that not all the bees can be out gathering pollen and nectar. Giving the bees a helping hand at the start will get them established and independent sooner.
And as noted above, you shouldn't be seeing capped brood yet. And if the queen is laying, small eggs and larvae can be difficult at best to see in newly drawn white wax.
Just a tip when looking for eggs, keep the sun to your back with the light shining down into the cell.
Brian D Bray used to say it can be like looking for a piece of rice at the bottom of a garbage can! :smile:
Ken
If you read the post carefully I believe Bee-Heaven use the wrong description IMHO This was a new split with a new queen ....
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
Queen cup:
(http://s10.postimg.org/c9i4nsf11/Queen_cup.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/c9i4nsf11/)
Queen cell:
(http://s16.postimg.org/b4zi5og7l/Queen_cell.jpg)[/url Don't be alarmed about queen cups as they are "just in case" preparations. (http://postimg.org/image/b4zi5og7l/)
I saw it said installed NUC Jim. Maybe I'm missing something as I don't see reference to a split?
Is there another thread referring to a split somewhere? If so, my confusion, :wink:
Quote from: Jim 134 on May 30, 2015, 08:58:30 AM
Ken
If you read the post carefully I believe Bee-Heaven use the wrong description IMHO This was a new split with a new queen ....
BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :smile:
Think you missed this one jim...says installed a nuc... I take that as moving a nuc to a larger box :wink: And good point ken sounds like he called a package a nuc. A nuc should have had capped brood..and not a caged queen... Good catch..
Guess OP needs to let us know what he has....