will the queen ever go home?

Kathyp · June 14, 2007, 04:11:30 PM

when i made my split a couple of weeks ago, i got the queen in there by accident. i figured no big deal. the main hive could raise another and i'd leave here where she was. today i checked the split. brood is capped, but no sign of queen, eggs, or larva. also, fewer bees.

checked the main hive, and it is pretty full again. the split is next to the hive from which it was made. could the queen have gone back next door??

anyway, figured i'd check again in a couple of days just to make sure i didn't miss her, and then add frames to split if no sign of queen.

doak · June 14, 2007, 06:04:13 PM

The older field bees will return to the old hive. House bees will stay, they haven't oriented yet.
Never heard of a queen returning, least I haven't had it happen.
In the future, shake a few extra bees from a couple of brood frames. Most of the bees on the brood are house/nurse bees. This helps replace the ones that return.
Or another way is put the new hive in the old spot and move the old one.
doak

Kathyp · June 14, 2007, 06:39:12 PM

i did shake bees in. that's probably how i got the queen in there :-). i have never heard of it either, but my experience is limited. she looked good when i saw her, so i don't think she died.....

i'll check again in a few days.....

Mici · June 15, 2007, 03:42:22 AM

kathy, something like that happened to me but even more complicated!
ok..my hives are stacked together (important info)

so...i wanted to requeen the chalk brood infested hive, but just in case, wanted to have the old queen somewhwere safe, just in case. so, i caged her and made a small mating nuc, i shook some bees in, and put the caged queen in. the bees that i shook in, were not from her hive (because it was already weak) but from a hive next to this one. obviusly, i was a bit cloumpsy because i could see the queen caged got opened, thus the queen was free in the nuc.(mating nuc was 60 feet away from hive)
after 15min or so, i looked at my hives and noticed a cluster at the yellow one (the one i took the bees from), i went closer and figured it's a hornet or something. i wanted to see :-D so i broke the cluster...the rest you can figure by yourself. guess the queen followed the scent of her nearby workers.

Robo · June 15, 2007, 08:44:38 AM

Too bad she wasn't marked :'(

Kathyp · June 15, 2007, 11:15:56 AM

mici, i think that's what happened. now, i'll have to swipe brood again and put it in that hive. :-(. robo, i just don't want to pay for a marked queen. not worth the extra to me, and so many people complain of the marking coming off. in this case, i guess it would have helped, but not finding eggs or larvae seems like it works as well.....and in this hive, i should have been able to spot her. not so many bees!

Mici · June 15, 2007, 11:30:20 AM

buy the marking pen, it's quite simple.

Kathyp · June 15, 2007, 12:03:30 PM

what i decided to do is order a new queen. we just don't have a long enough season here and i see no sign of queen cells in my little split. i give them a queen and see what happens.

Cindi · June 17, 2007, 01:06:33 PM

Kathy, interesting story, hope it all works out well for you. Have a wonderful day, Cindi.

Michael Bush · June 17, 2007, 01:21:15 PM

>could the queen have gone back next door??

I won't say it's impossible as I've been examining a hive with open and capped brood and couldn't find the queen, went next door and found her there being balled by the bees in that hive. I've also found a laying queen going for a walkabout on the outside of her hive. But in general a laying queen does not leave the hive and I've never done a split and had her go back to the one I got her from.

Kathyp · June 17, 2007, 05:08:54 PM

thanks. i'll go through everything again tomorrow. the new queen will come tuesday. if i find that they are ok and are requeening whichever hive is queenless....i'll make a nuc with the new queen. i have resigned myself to no honey, so i might as well expand, even if i have to feed them up later to make it through winter.

Cindi · June 20, 2007, 11:08:28 AM

Important to remember. Never introduce a new queen before any queen cells are finished capping. If the bees are nursing queen larvae, they will kill any queen introduction attempts. Have a wonderful day, great life. Cindi

Kathyp · June 20, 2007, 11:25:08 AM

ended up with a nuc. later i have an appointment with hubby for stronger contacts and maybe some reading glasses :-) in a couple of weeks, i'll check again. if i have a queenless hive and if this nuc survives, i'll combine. until then....i'll let them do their thing.

Keith · June 20, 2007, 12:25:48 PM

I had a problem seeing the eggs and what not also so I set up my video camera on a tripod
just to the side of where I stand. That way if I miss any thing hopfully when I watch it on tv ill pickup any thing I may have missed. Works well for me dont always have much time to look for every little thing.
Just make sure you are focused to that distance.

doak · June 20, 2007, 01:11:59 PM

Position, If possible stand with the sun to your back and let it hit the frame over your sholder. At just the right angle the light will shine right down into the cell. Have to look close, the eggs are standing on end before they hatch. The size of a very small grain of rice. very small.
doak

Cindi · June 22, 2007, 10:48:34 AM

Something interesting about the eggs that I had not observed before until a couple of days ago. When I saw this, I remembered what I had learned.

I looked into the cell, Doak, like you said, with the sun shining over my shoulder (that is how I do it too, really helps with the strong light). I saw in the bottom of the cell the egg not standing upright, like I normally always see. Hmm....I thought, wonder what on earth was with that? But then, from the cobwebs of my mind I brought a teeny, tiny bit of knowledge.

Right, when the egg is about to hatch, it lays down, no longer in the vertical position, and then hatches on the bottom of the cell into that teeny, tiny little C shape that gets bigger and bigger by the hour (LOLL). These eggs I saw were obviously in their 3rd day of existence. It was interesting and something new I had not noticed before.

Have a wonderful day, great life and health. Cindi

Kathyp · June 22, 2007, 11:13:36 AM

i have seen eggs, guys :-). in this case, my inability to spot them has more to do with my old age, than not being able to identify them.

not to worry! i now own a rather strong pair of reading glasses. IF i remember to take them out with me, i'll better be able to see what i'm looking at. i might also not drop my books into the bath water so often if i don't have to prop them at arms length on my knees :-)

Cindi · June 23, 2007, 03:28:32 AM

Kathy, come on. You're not that old. We all know that. Right, yes or no? Cindi