Queen cells

don2 · May 16, 2015, 09:25:40 PM

I re-read my entries and the replies. There must have been some misunderstandings as to what I did. On the 24 of March I split the only overwintered hive I had. I "removed" the queen myself, along with a few frames of capped brood and a couple frames of food. {a week} later I had queen cells, as I expected I would. 3 frames had cells, I removed 2 of these frames, each had 2 cells. Made my 2 new nuke's, The frame I left in the mother hive produced a queen which is doing well. The queen split off is also doing good. After I gave the two nuke's time enough to show if they had a mated queen or not is when I found eggs in the one but not the other. I added a frame of brood to the one that had no eggs. a week later I added another frame of eggs/brood and got two queen cells. Now, I found the capped queen cells this past Wednesday. How long should I wait to check to see if I have a laying queen? d2

rookie2531 · May 16, 2015, 09:38:04 PM

I would say the day you added that frame, and then 30-35 days later.

BeeMaster2 · May 17, 2015, 12:37:06 AM

I'll second that.
Jim

drjeseuss · May 18, 2015, 02:15:14 PM

Be VERY careful that you don't fuss with them during their sensitive days. I have one I pulled by mistake. I was VERY gentle with the frame the whole time, and returned it as soon as I noticed the cell. Still, when I checked on her day after hatch, she had bad wings, unable to attempt flight. This may have been me, maybe DWV, maybe something else... in any case, do be careful while they are changing. I don't have any other signs of DWV in my hives, so I blame the handling. Sensitive days are from capping day to about 5 days after. She will emerge about 7 days after capping (day 16 total). Day 5-6 (14-15 days total) is usually when cells are moved to nucs, just prior to emergence.

don2 · May 29, 2015, 09:54:30 PM

Checked it today, she is a nice one. Finally, it took 2 month and 2 frames of brood added. They got a queen on the second frame of added brood. So I now have 10 medium frames of bees with a new queen. I say if you have a colony that loses the queen, add a frame of brood a week if you can not come up with a queen asap. d2

rookie2531 · May 31, 2015, 09:25:13 AM

That's cool, its always a good feeling when you get one laying. Congrats.

BeeMaster2 · May 31, 2015, 10:39:07 PM

Nice job Don.
Jim

don2 · June 01, 2015, 10:27:41 PM

I back trailed all my actions from the day I made my split till the end. I think I found why my two nuke's failed to get a queen. I moved the queen to begin with and let the mother hive make the cells. when I did the split to divide up the cells I used a wheel barrow to transport the two splits, there was a couple good jolts en route to the new location. The parent hive was the only one that ended up with a queen with out any trouble. Still learning. d2

BeeMaster2 · June 02, 2015, 05:52:25 AM

Quote from: don2 on June 01, 2015, 10:27:41 PM
I back trailed all my actions from the day I made my split till the end. I think I found why my two nuke's failed to get a queen. I moved the queen to begin with and let the mother hive make the cells. when I did the split to divide up the cells I used a wheel barrow to transport the two splits, there was a couple good jolts en route to the new location. The parent hive was the only one that ended up with a queen with out any trouble. Still learning. d2

Don,
The queen cells have certain times when they are very sensitive to movement, even turning them on their sides damages their ovaries. They need to bee within a couple of days before hatching before you can move them.
Jim

don2 · June 12, 2015, 01:50:19 PM

Checked my queen today. Been two weeks from first seeing her. solid capped brood on one frame, partial on another, saw her again, closed it up.

d2

BeeMaster2 · June 12, 2015, 10:58:57 PM

Way to go Don.
Jim

don2 · February 29, 2016, 12:48:45 AM

Checked it today. doing fine. added another box.