I really need some help

orvette1 · August 27, 2009, 11:55:33 PM

I have 1 hive right now. The bees were too hot for my area so I replaced the queen. That was in Feb 2009. She hasn't been laying well. Right now I have bees in the hive, but not very many. She is laying because there seems to be the same amount of bees every month. Any ideas? Don't say to go to the local beekeepers. They want you to work their hives, but won't help you with yours, or they just flake out and don't show. I have put apiguard in so they don't have varroa mite. There is plenty of pollen in the area. They have enough room to build. I have 2 deeps. I don't know what to do. I can't find the queen to requeen, but she is there.

bee-nuts · August 28, 2009, 12:33:57 AM

Hmmm.

Well, I'm assuming you know what eggs, larva and capped brood looks like. However you say because there seems to bee same amount of bees.

You need to look at how much brood is there and know the difference between a good and bad brood pattern. If bad than you probably got a poor queen.

You also say you have only two deeps for the hive. This may also be a problem if they have packed away stores and left hardly any room for the queen to lay in. This can also result in the bees swarming. If they swarmed a couple times then you will never seem to have more bees. You can disregard this if they have unused space but dont mistake clean cells in middle of frames for room because these are for the queen to lay in. I don't think two deeps are ample room for most any hive this time of year

I don't get any hands on help from any beek. I use the internet, books, this forum, and ask my supplier questions when I buy things. Many people are to busy to run around helping others and if you want to see something to compare your hive to and learn stuff you should take the opportunity to help/learn from working others hives if offered.

To aid in finding the queen, you can insert a queen excluder to narrow down which box she is in.

Also, this is one good reason why you should really have more than one hive if you can afford it and have the capacity to keep them. There is no way for you to know for certain that your hive is doing poorly if you have nothing else to compare it too. Besides, double the hives, double the fun.

orvette1 · August 28, 2009, 10:49:59 AM

They have plenty of room, in fact they refuse to draw out the upper deep. I would love to have more than 1 hive, but can't get the bees to start another one. I am almost ready to give up and sell everything. :'(

alflyguy · August 28, 2009, 11:12:17 AM

Orvette, Don't give up. This hobby can be frustrating but then nothing worthwhile is easy. Look for eggs and larva. It's not unusual for new queens to be rejected. If you still have a queen make sure she has space to lay eggs (drawn comb without honey in it). If she's gone get a new one.

sc-bee · August 28, 2009, 01:07:38 PM

>I don't know what to do. I can't find the queen to requeen, but she is there.

If you think the queen is the problem:

Do you see eggs--- any eggs standing up (standing up eggs 48hrs old or less). Any larvae as mentioned above.

Two deeps brood in both? If brood in both deeps, split and put one on a different bottom board with top and walk away a while. This will split the population and then come back and look for queen in each box. If you don't find her then, leave it split about three days, come back and check for eggs or queen cells started ( Eggs in box where she is, cells started in box where she's not in box- if there were eggs present for them to start cells.) No help then maybe build a shaker box with a queen excluder.

Also check Michaels Bush's site- I think he has a section on there--- finding the queen.

Hope you have luck in finding a bee friend to help.

buzzbee · August 29, 2009, 08:54:14 AM

Orvette,
Do you have a nectar flow at this time?
If you have only a few bees,reduce the entrance size.
If they are not bringing in much nectar or pollen,you may have to feed them until they build up sufficient numbers to sustain the hive.Low bee numbers make it difficult to forage and raise brood.

Jim134 · August 29, 2009, 09:31:21 AM

When I live on Oahu in 69-71 had a lot of beekeeping.Can you get bees form the mainland ? :? HI got varroa and tracheal mites ? :?
If they are not bringing in much nectar or pollen you may have to feed sugar water and pollen. If you have only a few bees reduce the entrance size

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

bee-nuts · August 30, 2009, 04:26:54 AM

Hey,

You dont have one of them hive expansion stoppers (queen excluder) in between those boxes do you? If so, pull it out like yesterday.