a new queen and the new beekeeper "duh" factor

Kathyp · July 12, 2006, 04:07:18 PM

several weeks ago, i was concerned when i found what looked like queen cells. i did not mess with them, but kept and eye on things. all went well. a little over two weeks ago, i became concerned that the hive was getting crowded and added a deep in addition to my two shallow honey supers.

between then and now, i observed a larger, and differently shaped bee entering the hive. the bees didn't seem to mind, and i gave it no more thought.

yesterday, i took off the two honey supers to see what was going on in the new deep. no brood, but they were filling the center frames of the new deep with honey. i took off the new deep and found that the bottom deeps were still pretty crowded with bees, but not more so than when i had checked a couple of weeks ago. i was a little disappointed not to find brood in the new deep, but again, i didn't think much of it.

then.....i woke up in the middle of the night :idea: and had this thought: 1. the hive had either swarmed (it must have been small) or the old queen had died. 2. the larger bee that i had seen enter the hive was a new queen. 3. this is going to really bug me, because i don't know, and didn't have the smarts to pull frames on the lower boxes to check for brood. this, in part, because they are so packed with comb, etc. that i didn't want to take a chance of squishing my queen.

i realize that it does not matter. if i have a new queen, it's all good. even so, i suspect that not figuring this out is a rookie mistake and could have cost me (could still) if if my hive has not re-queened itself.

Brian D. Bray · July 12, 2006, 04:55:53 PM

Well you'll know in 3 weeks weather you have a new queen and whats happening. Often, meaning mostly, when a hive has started a swarm sequence it will continue in that endeavor until it's successful.
Swarm prevention is centered around the concept of providing more space at timely intervals to avoid the overcrowding that leads to swarming.
New beekeepers make 3 mistakes that frequently lead to swarming, which are: 1. overfeeding with syrup, 2. waiting to long to super, and 3. not recognizing the difference between swarm and supercedure cells or even in identifing queen cells at all.
Another common mistake, which can lead to disease such as chillbrood is putting too many supers of foundation on at a time chilling the hive.
Feel good you've learned some valuable lessons.

Kathyp · July 12, 2006, 05:10:30 PM

boy, do i have a long ways to go!

do you think i should move the honey frames in the new deep, to the outside so that the queen (if i have one) can use the center frames for brood? i don't want to over think this, or mess with them more than needed.....

Brian D. Bray · July 12, 2006, 05:21:54 PM

In a properly operating hive the outer frames on each side of the brood chamber are used for honey storage. Normal (if there is such a thing) is the equivalent of 7 frames of brood with the outside half of the second frame from the side also being devoted to honey stores.
If it isn't aligned that way now I would do so. If there are undrawn frames in the box you can coax them into drawing out the foundation by moving 1 foundation frame from the outside to just insdie the honey frame on the edge of the brood chamber.

Kathyp · July 12, 2006, 05:30:22 PM

thanks. i'll get at it after the rain passes.

Brian D. Bray · July 12, 2006, 05:37:50 PM

Yeah, today's a bummer, it's raining here too and I so wanted to get the fryer pen done so I can move the chicks from the brooder before the eggs in the incubator hatch.

Michael Bush · July 12, 2006, 11:21:14 PM

Odds are the bigger bee was a drone. If it was buggeyed and wide it was a drone. If it was long and slender, it was a queen.

Kathyp · July 13, 2006, 01:34:54 AM

it could have been a drone. my impression from my problem solving sleep session, was queen. probably the lack of new brood on the new frames contributed to this impression. i must confess, i was not close enough to look into his/her eyes!

even though these session usually lead to an accurate assessment of the problem, and even a reasonable solution most of the time, this is not always the case. i have been quite disappointed on occasion, to fully awaken and find i am neither part of the SG1 team, nor bearer of the "sword of truth" :P :lol:

Kathyp · July 14, 2006, 11:35:42 AM

i tried to update the original post, but that didn't work to well. i'll just stick this on the end here.

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i pulled frames from the newest deep super. eggs everywhere. either the old queen got back in gear, or a new one is going great! also, as an unexpected bonus, one shallow super is almost full and about half capped:!: