I installed 3 pounds of Bees and Queen in a new hive 10" body on the 23 of April. I have check them a couple of times
the last time being Sat. the 12th of this month. The bees have filled out about 7 of the 10 frame of foundation and
have made lots of honey. A little bit of the honey is already capped. I only inspected about 3 frames on Saturday and it
started raining so I closed the hive. I have helped my father with bees, he has has three hives, but this is my first try for my self.
I have not seen the Queen since she was released, I chock that up to my inexperience but I am curious how I can tell she is doing well.
I know from reading that a good laying pattern is the answer. I am surprised at how much honey I see. I expected most of the filled out frames to be brood. I have not seen the larvae yet like the pictures on this forum show. I am planning on looking again tonight and maybe I can take some pictures. It is very possible that I am just misinterpreting what I am seeing and all is well.
How do bees behave when there is no queen? I did see a few dozen capped brood cell in the few frames I looked at Sat. but I know workers can lay drone eggs. The bees are very gentle not being aggressive at all even when I am in the hive. I have not even had them buzz my head or follow me away from the hive yet.
Any comments would be welcome. Thanks.
Bill Sneddon
Sounds like you may not have a queen.
if you do not see eggs or larvae by now, I would suspect your queen is not laying or may not be in the hive. Do a serious look for your queen. It might be time to order one.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Rember, the cap's on honey are white. Brood capping's is about the color of a brown paper bag.
If they are gentle and not buzzing unusally loud, or if they are not flying around like may-ham, most likely you have a queen.
doak
Take some pictures if you can and send the link for the picture to a mod. the mod will help postan active link.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
I too installed two three lb packages about that same time. One took off to a fast start with lots of eggs, larva, and honey. The other one......the queen just vanished. Nothing but honey. The bees in both hives are very gentle but as soon as I made the queenless hive queenrite the sound coming from the hive changed from a buzz to a loud hummmmmmmmmmm. I don't hear well but it was very noticeable. Good luck, Steve
About a week ago I did an inspection and didn't see any eggs and very few larva kind of panicked. This week I found lots of capped brood do a thorough inspection of all frames ASAP if there is no capped brood then you have a problem.
Dave
I checked last night. The batteries were dead on my camera when I got home sorry no pictures.
I found one frame that was mostly filled with capped brood on both sided. I did not see any larvae or
eggs. I did not smoke at all and tried to follow the instructions on finding the queen. Looking first at the frame
with the most bees on it. I did not see her, but I can't be sure she was not there. Any more thoughts?
Should I buy another queen and try to install her? I know she might be killed by existing queen.
How long can the hive last with no replacement bees? The number has not seem to diminish since I installed them.
I have read that worker bees only live about 5 weeks.
Bill Sneddon
If you have capped brood, there was a queen present recently. For me, eggs are hard to see at times. Without good light they can be difficult to see. My queens are marked but sometimes it is difficult to find her with so many bees. I recommend you look again in better light before ordering a queen. My two cents worth. Steve
Yes thats what I would say, wait. I'm a new beekeeper also. I did have bees for 4 years when I was a teen. My eyes are not as good as they once were. I have a very difficult time seeing the eggs now esspecialy on the new white plastic foundation. Keep looking to see if there is more capped brood than last time as long as there is more or brood in different places she was there not long ago.
Dave
Saw the Queen on Saturday. She looked to be doing fine. Very easy to spot not sure how I missed her in the past.