Queen stopped laying.

larryp · June 05, 2016, 11:36:52 PM

I got a new colony of Carnialon bees back in late April. The queen was laying good until last week. When I checked on the hive then I noticed a lot fewer eggs than I had been seeing but there was still plenty of larvae. As most of the bottom box was full I added a second box. Today when I opened and checked on the hive there was almost no activity in the upper box. I checked the frames in the bottom and there was still a fair amount of larvae developing but I didn't see a single egg. I did see the queen quite clearly on one of the frames walking around. Last week when I had checked I didn't see her at all but I did notice a couple queen cells on one of the frames. Today I noticed one of them was capped but one was open on the end with workers going in and out constantly. I couldn't see if there was a larvae queen in it.
My question is two fold. Has the old queen just quit laying and the workers are hatching a new one or did I see a newly hatched virgin queen who has yet to breed and start laying eggs? Like I said I didn't see a queen when I opened it last time ( about 10 days ago) but she was very visible today when I opened it up and found her on one of the brood frames.

iddee · June 05, 2016, 11:41:30 PM

""My question is two fold. Has the old queen just quit laying and the workers are hatching a new one or did I see a newly hatched virgin queen who has yet to breed and start laying eggs?""

For sure the first, and maybe the second, too. I would just leave it as is for two to three weeks and check for eggs then.

larryp · June 05, 2016, 11:48:08 PM

Thanks. I forgot to mention the last week has been cold and rainy and not much in the way of flowers around. I have a feeder for them so I don't know how much of a difference that would have made. Now it's back up to around 80 and there are wild roses blooming so hopefully that will help.

iddee · June 05, 2016, 11:52:00 PM

Putting your location in your profile would help us know things like that. It would also get you better answers on all your questions. Bees are kept different in Arizona then in Maine.

larryp · June 05, 2016, 11:54:55 PM

Will do. I'm in NW Montana. Last week had highs in the mid 50's with rain and lows in the 40's. Yesterday and all this week -high's in the 80's.

cao · June 06, 2016, 12:11:47 AM

Yep it sounds like they are getting rid of the old girl. Like iddee said, give them a couple of weeks to sort it out.

larryp · June 06, 2016, 12:14:08 AM

Thanks guys!

GSF · June 06, 2016, 08:18:50 AM

...then again - she may be sliming down so she can fly with a swarm. I'd imagine it's prime swarm season up in your neck of the woods. I've had at least 3 in the last week. Two I'm sure swarmed because the bearding disappeared and the third I hived yesterday. Probably 4 pounds at least. It took an 8f deep & medium to hive them.

Michael Bush · June 06, 2016, 11:15:03 AM

What was in the brood nest where there were no eggs? Empty space? Nectar? That would be the clue that she was failing (empty) or swarming (nectar).

larryp · June 07, 2016, 12:00:33 AM

It was empty.

larryp · June 19, 2016, 10:19:43 AM

Checked them again yesterday and while I didn't see the queen this time there was a ton of eggs laid, covering several frames. All nice single eggs in cells so no laying workers.

Michael Bush · June 20, 2016, 01:30:58 PM

When you find it empty, there is usually a queen about to start laying and they have cleared out that space for her.