A few weeks ago we did a 3 way split from a single hive. We put the splits into nucs. Two we placed behind the main hive and to the left a bit. Both of those successfully raised queens. The third nuc we placed right next to the main hive. This one never did get a queen. There were two queen cells in it. So questions....
Could a queen fly out on her mating flight and end up in the wrong hive?
Could these two hives be so close they are treated as one hive?....there are a bunch of bees in the nuc....much more than I would have expected so I?m sure there is drifting.
No sign of a laying worker....yet.
Quote from: Aroc on June 30, 2019, 09:31:37 PM
Could a queen fly out on her mating flight and end up in the wrong hive?
Yes
Quote from: Aroc on June 30, 2019, 09:31:37 PM
Could these two hives be so close they are treated as one hive?....there are a bunch of bees in the nuc....much more than I would have expected so I?m sure there is drifting.
No sign of a laying worker....yet.
I don't think so. How much brood was in there? That could account for some of the bees. And yes there could also be drifting. How long have they been broodless? The brood is what keeps them from having laying workers. If you have some from another hive, I would add a frame with brood in it to your queenless split.
If you did the split a few weeks ago you would not have a laying queen yet. There is a fair chance that there is a queen that needs a little more time. Inspections to early in split is a no no.
It would be helpful if you can be more specific on the dates. -a few weeks ago- is pretty loose when talking about queens.
When you say 3 way split what does that mean to the main colony? Does that mean your end goal is 4 colonies, 3 nucs plus the source hive? Or no source hive left, just 3 nucs.
What of the original queen, where is she located in this?
Yes, VQs can return to the wrong box if the boxes entrances are facing close to the same direction and the boxes are less than 4 feet apart. What is the distance? If they are close together, please explain why.
You should have a laying queen in less than 28 days, barring being socked in by weather for weeks on end. Given a well done split and good weather conditions, as quick as 18 days to a LQ. Generally 20-22.
Yes, bees drift. Some types/strains of bee drift more than others. They tend to drift to the hive on the edge of the bee yard that is closest on the return flight path from the primary forage area. If hives are really close together, they will drift to the hive that smells better, meaning more brood in progress and a smelly queen and generally more active entrance.
Quote from: ed/La. on July 01, 2019, 09:00:29 PM
If you did the split a few weeks ago you would not have a laying queen yet. There is a fair chance that there is a queen that needs a little more time. Inspections to early in split is a no no.
The splits were done about five weeks ago now. The other two created queens just fine. Just trying to figure out why this one. I know things can think we are just going to frame eggs through to see if they can make one.
Raising and mating queens is far from a 100% success rate. They get lost on mating flights.
If the nuc/split you are referring to is near the main hive and facing same direction, one possible scenario is when she returned from her flight instead of going into the nuc, she went into the hive. In that scenario she would have been killed at the entrance. Or if she made it in then she could have hunted down and killed the resident queen an took over.
Other possibilities are: queen cell not made, not emerged or poor, lost her way on flight, fell to predator on flight, succumbed to exposure to weather on flight.
Have you checked the main source hive recently? Is it queenrite? Does it have the original queen?
When a split fails, it is best to combine the failed split with one of the other splits or back to the main hive. Especially at 5 weeks.
how similar are the nuc and hive that are beside each other? Same color, entrance same position etc the a young queen may end up in the wrong box.
We make nucs of all different colors and then swap lids so we will have a green nuc with a yellow lid, and there is the opposite some where.
Paint the landing board a different color, handle another, good if no nuc is the same as the other.