W/in the last 2 weeks I noticed a large bee coming into one of my hives.. it looked twice the size of the worker bees.. seemed even larger then my marked queens.. it even made a different bzzzzz.. tone when flying up to the hive. I saw this at least twice during the late evenings.. around 7:30 PM.
I started both hives in the beginning of May w/ 5 frame nucs. The hives are now made up of 4 Med. supers each. I usually go to check into the hives every 2 weeks.
Over the 4th of July weekend I was ready to pull a super of honey off of each hive... 2 weeks prior they had the 3rd supers almost full of honey.. I added the 4th Med. supers of foundation then.. since I just started this year.. new foundation is all I have.
Checking the 4th Med. supers I added 2 weeks ago.. I didn't see as much progress on filling out the new foundation as I expected.. but we had a big spell of cloudy/rainy weather for almost a week.. (5 people drowned in our county). So I pulled the 4th Med. super off.. and started looking at the frames of the 3rd. To my surprise.. my marked queen was on the 3rd frame I pulled.. she seemed to be going around filling any empty place left.. looking at the frame.. the brood almost seemed to be drone cells.. but they really didn't have the distinctive "domed" cap I've seen.
It seems after finding the queen I'm usually hesitant about breaking down the hive more.. but I pulled the 3rd Med. super off to look at a few frames from the 2nd. Hmmm.. looks like I see half a peanut cell. I decided I disturbed them enough and put the hive back together. This was the first time I didn't use smoke.. just some sugar water.. I could tell the difference.. more bees butting my head.(I'm fully suited up.) It was probably around 5pm when I started checking into the hive.. a little late.. but I'm running a little behind on everything at the farm this year.
I was just making sure I had the boxes aligned right after putting the hive back together.. when I hear that diff. bzzzz.. tone.. since I have my gear on.. I put my face close by the entrance.. big golden bee.. plops right down in front of entrance.. walks in.
What to do.. so I have a new queen.. the marked queen is hiding upstairs.. the marked queen's performance seem's(to me) very good.. she's taken the hive to 4 Med. supers in 2 months time.
I'd like to save the marked queen(Minn. hygenic).. maybe a split.. will she be killed otherwise.. will the hive swarm & leave.. who leaves.. new queen.. old queen.. seems any of the variations could be possible.
I did take 7 full frames of honey from the second hive.. they were still working on capping the other 3 frames. I eat the comb honey right off the frame w/ a spoon.. I'm def. enjoying having the honey bees. :D
was the queen cell in the middle or on the bottom of the frame?
how many of them were there?
if theres close to twenty on the bottom of the frame than they are thinking about swarming (if there starting to draw out the 4th super than i dont know why they would want to swarm)
if there are queen cells with eggs or larvea in the middle of the frame than they are supercedure cells which means your queen is failing DONT MESS WITH THESE CELLS!(unless you can get a new queen) they will produce a new queen
sometimes bees make a few half queen cells and there nothing to worry about enless theres an egg or larvea in it
good luck
This big bee that's coming and going, doesn't sound like a queen. I thought they stayed in the hive till a swarm.
Are you sure it's a honey bee and not a wasp or hornet?
If so maybe you have just started a new breed of Bee-52s :lol:
wayne
Kensfarm: I've been told that there need to be a honey barrier [not a good choice of words here] to keep the queen down where she belongs. I had same problem with queen going into honey supers. Loaded the near super to her with honey and left it while the other supers were being filled and she stayed down under. hope this helps you. Pembroke
> it looked twice the size of the worker bees.. seemed even larger then my marked queens.. it even made a different bzzzzz.
Sounds like a drone. They can vary in size from the size of a worker to two times the size of a worker, with most just half again as big. They make a definite different bzzzzz.
I agree with MB, the drone does make a definite buzz compared to the other bees.
My question is: Why get upset with a queen laying in the 3rd or 4th medium box. The queen will take as much space as she needs--a good queen takes a lot. I run my hives as 4 mediums as dedicated to brood production, then I start to count honey supers. Also a slatted rack works much the same way a honey barrier works--to the queen it is a barren area she doesn't like to cross unless she has to and with 4 mediums as a brood chamber she doesn't have to.
Thanks for the replies.. I went back into the hive on Saturday to take a good look.. found the queen right away.. she was on the very next frame from the last time I found her in the 3rd Med. Super. I took that frame and put it into a nuc box so I knew where she was and she wouldn't get hurt.
I saw eggs, larva, and sealed brood through out the 3 Med. Supers. Only saw 2 "half peanuts" on the bottom of one single frame. On the 1st Med. Super.. the bee's had extended several frames w/ comb on the bottom.. looks like they were using it for drones(big holes).
I used smoke this time.. and initially all was calm.. but by the time I was into the bottom super.. the bee's were angry.. I think some robber's showing up got them started.. I had at least 2 dozen bee's trying there best to teach me a lesson. Usually I can walk 25 feet(to where I park the tractor).. and I'm clear.. this time they wouldn't leave me alone in the immediate area.. I ended up getting on the tractor & driving along the edge of a field before they dispersed. Well maybe it was because I had just been in the hive 4 days ago.. or that we had just gotten a slight shower beforehand. Several yellow-jackets that showed up when I had the hive broken apart really got them going.
Michael: You are def. right about it probably being a drone.. when I got down to the 1st Med. Super.. the drones seemed huge.. like the size of a bumble bee.. I couldn't believe how big they were.. bubba's.
Brian: No I wasn't upset at all.. just curious.. maybe I was a little worried about losing the marked queen.. new-bee chitters maybe? Thank you for the comments.. I can see the hive using 4 Med. supers for brood.
All in all.. it was a good experience.. I fixed the spacing on the frames in the first Med. Super when I had installed the nuke.. one frame was flush against the hive body. I did see one Mite on the back of one of the bee's.. I'll be doing a powder sugar treatment.. and checking the Mite drop on the sticky board. I had also put together a new hive.. cleared the area next to my existing hives.. and had set up some rail-road ties to sit the new hives on.. beforehand(just in case).. I have one more new hive to put together.. I'd like to add 2 new hives before winter. Thanks again! :D
We have an example here of honey. This is all uncapped honey, but this is like a royal queen cell. Queens grow in a downwards direction. So this is only the base you can see a little hole in it. The bees would raise the queen downwards instead of to the sides like the rest of the bees.
We're going to try to look for some kind of indication that the queen is laying eggs and see if we can find the queen, too. Sometimes it's easy to find the queen, sometimes it's not so easy because they are going to start moving when they notice that we're opening the hives.
for more info including free videos:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/interviews/beekeeping.htm
i think us new people are just jumpy :D i, too, had seen a big bee going into my hive. later, i got in there and found even bigger bees and different looking, that were drones. easy to tell when you can see them all together! i think i ended up with a smallish swarm early on and a new queen. maybe i squished to old one? maybe the new one was the one returning to the hive after mating flights? who knows? maybe i'll be on top of this in a few years :oops:
anyway, i am in good company as a newbee!