balling the queen?

[joker1656]

Popped a hive open yesterday, for a few minutes.  Very sunny and warm.  Goal was to add some frames of honey to keep em on the right track.  Small ball of bees on top of the frames.  Gently poked with my finger, and discovered the queen.  I assume they were "balling" her.  I understand that their goal with this activity is to kill her.  Is this correct, or could they have been trying to cover her to protect her? 

If they were killing her, is it too early in Indiana for them to raise a new queen?  I did not go completely through the hive, so I do not know if there were queen cells.  It has not been warm very long.... literally just days.  It is still frosty at night.  Many bees flying during the day.

If they did kill her, is there any hope in giving them a frame of eggs from another hive?  How much time would I have to confirm her demise, and get them something to raise? 

Also, this hive is lighter than the others that survived...for whatever that is worth.

[Michael Bush]

Sometimes they are trying to protect her, sometimes they are trying to kill her, sometimes they are just trying to confine her.  Often a virgin comes back to the wrong hive...

[indypartridge]

I assume they were "balling" her.  Is this correct, or could they have been trying to cover her to protect her? 

I'd assume they were covering her, not balling her. It's very unlikely that they would decide to kill a queen which they've had all winter at the precise moment you opened the hive.

If they were killing her, is it too early in Indiana for them to raise a new queen?

Yes. Depending on weather, we're probably a month (or more) away from raising queens here in Indiana.

How much time would I have to confirm her demise, and get them something to raise? 

Queenless at this time of year is bad. Even if you had a southern queen lined up, mailing is too risky this time of year because of our up/down spring weather. Keep your fingers crossed that the queen you saw is okay, and check again in a couple weeks.

[JP]

If you are using bottom entrances I would check the bottom board every few days for her. If they have killed her they will dispell her. I wouldn't understand the colony's logic in killing her where you are now, but, I have seen bees kill their queens for no good reason I could fathom. This has always ocurred right after exposing a colony for an extraction.

The three or four times I've seen this done there were no queen cells and their actions had be perplexed. I chaulked their decision to ball and kill her due to stress, related to my invasion of the hive.

If they wind up queenless you will have to combine, if you are unable to requeen that one. As others stated you are at least a month out in your area for drone production for them to be successful making a queen and having her mated.


...JP

[joker1656]

thanks, folks.