help again on new queen

[rgy]

so we are requeening our one nuc and then combining the two nucs to hopefully get throught the winter.  today the new queen arrived and we could not find the old queen in the hive, no eggs but a few larvae, so after trying to find her on all frames twice we decided to put the new queen in.  My question, if there is an old queen in the box who is going to survive?

[FRAMEshift]

so we are requeening our one nuc and then combining the two nucs to hopefully get throught the winter.  today the new queen arrived and we could not find the old queen in the hive, no eggs but a few larvae, so after trying to find her on all frames twice we decided to put the new queen in.  My question, if there is an old queen in the box who is going to survive?

Maybe both, maybe neither.  Some hives, a few, have two queens.  Or they could kill each other.  Or one may survived but be injured.  It's a risky move.  If you leave the new queen in her box and they appear to accept her, you may be ok.

If you have larvae, then you had a queen in the last 9 days.  But you still have plenty of time.  You could wait a bit and keep looking for eggs.  If you still don't see them, then you might be queenless.  But queens sometimes stop laying in a dearth, so it's never a sure thing.

[rgy]

thanks.  I'm hoping!!!  that they got rid of the old queen.   we did find a couple of uncapped queen cells that we removed.  I Know, I COULD NEVER BE THAT LUCKY!!!  Just went out to see them, and it is close to dark, and they are ALL in the hive so I figure they are either trying to kill her or get her out.  lets hope for the latter!!!!!!!

Two Nucs depend on this working!

[rgy]

so we went and checked on the the hive today.  we combined the newly queended nuc with another bad nuc a week ago.  Can't find a queen or any eggs :-x  Now I really don't know what to do.  Should I buy yet another queen?  should I take a can of Raid?  I'm wondering if I have EFB of AFB, just nothing going on.  I don't think there is a chance that these bees will make it through winter so a new queen is probably throwing 25 bucks away.

My really good hive is rite next to this one so it there a way to get these bees to go over there and live and just abandon there doomed hive?

[iddee]

When I find a queenless hive that is weak, I just shake the bees out on the ground and put the hive away. They take up with the nearest hive. No fight, no fuss.

[OzBuzz]

You could always try a newspaper combine?

Actually! here's a thought! put down a queen excluder and then the paper above that, shake the bees in and let them do their thing. If you do still have a queen she will stay in the top super (and maybe survive/lay) if you don't have a queen then nothing lost, but you've ensured maximum survival/population boost from you combine