I Think I Lost My Queen

GerryL · May 23, 2007, 07:38:50 PM

Hello All:

I have one hive started April 15, with 3 lb. package. It started pretty good, drawn comb on four to five frames and Larvae. I've been feeding till now and checking once a week. They don't seem to have drawn out much more and I don't seem to notice eggs or Larvae. What appears to me is lots of queen cells? not enlongated peanuts but raised white cells. I'm obviously a novice and not sure. I'm going to try to post a link to some pictures so that maybe someone out there can give me some pointers. First time trying to link, hope the link comes up.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb173/gerry41155/

Thanks everyone

pdmattox · May 23, 2007, 07:43:51 PM

The raised capped cells are drone brood. You may have lost your queen and now have a laying worker or a poorly mated queen. It also looks like you should stop feeding sryup.

Mici · May 23, 2007, 07:45:32 PM

i don't see any, at least not clearly, maybe the third picture has one, but i'm not sure.
anyway, you're probably thinking about those..enlenghtened capped cells right? that's just drone brood, but still,i don't know if it's ok that it's scatered the way it is, and where's any worker brood?

let's see what the more experienced ones have to say about it.

tillie · May 23, 2007, 08:14:37 PM

More experienced people will comment, but one thing I learned at Young Harris last week is that when there is little brood and what is there is spotty like that and mostly looks like drone brood, you also have to consider the possibility of some kind of disease. Do the dark cells have brood in them or dark larvae? Does it smell bad? If there is deformed or dark larvae in the dark cells (I can't see from the picture) you do have to consider EFB or AFB.....

Linda T

Kathyp · May 23, 2007, 08:17:37 PM

http://picasaweb.google.com/pearce.km/Bees57

we hived our bees at about the same time. this is what mine looked like a couple of weeks ago, just to give you something to compare to.

Moonshae · May 23, 2007, 09:07:47 PM

Zooming in, it looks like there are eggs on the walls of the cells, but I've yet to inspect my frames for eggs and get a real look at my own, so I could be wrong.

GerryL · May 24, 2007, 08:43:52 AM

If this is a queenless laying worker hive. Can I just introduce a queen if I can get one?

Thanks for your continued input.

Mici · May 24, 2007, 08:51:40 AM

no! a lot has been said about it lately so i suggest you do a search or just look the last two pages of threads. basicly, the only efficient way to suppress a laying worker is to put in a frame of open brood. open brood emmits pheromones that suppress the development of workers ovaries. the worker(s) will stop laying and they might even raise their own queen (if the brood is of the right age) but, once the workers have stopped laying and they built queen cells you could be succesful in introducing a new queen.

pdmattox · May 24, 2007, 10:47:09 AM

Michael Bush has this on his website and goes through the steps very well. I have used this method with great results. If it is a laying worker you can still salvage it with what resources your already have.

UtahBees · May 24, 2007, 11:30:02 AM

Mine were also hived about the same time (April 21), but look slightly different than your's in the way that there is more brood in one place and eggs. I also have a bit of sugar-water honey and pollen cells (similar to yours) too. I started off with 2 boxes, and last I checked 9 out of 10 frames in the bottom, and 4 out of 9 frames in the top had activity. (I switched bottom to top on May 8's inspection) I'm also still feeding mine, but they don't drink hardly as much as the first few weeks.

Mine aren't as far along as Kathy's though. Seems like she's got a very healthy, busy hive.

Some photos are of my new hive (labeled "Scott"), others are of my mentor's hive (labeled "Quint"), so please be aware. I'll try to get some better frame photos for you to compare.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barl0w/collections/72157600161344091/

Regards -

UtahBees

GerryL · May 25, 2007, 10:41:39 AM

Utahbees thanks alot. you take beautiful pictures. Your hive certainly looks better. I have a local beekeeper coming by today to check out my hive. he has a lot more experience than I. I may be overly concerned, but I sure would like to know. Thanks for your input.