i am so frustrated!

Kathyp · June 18, 2007, 07:09:04 PM

ok, i made the split and accidentally got the queen into the split. no big deal. that's the chalkbrood queen and i don't care if she's not in the big hive.

i saw no sign of queen cells in main hive after almost a week, so i ordered a queen...i don't want to waste more time letting them raise one. new queen comes tomorrow.

figured i'd better double check all hives and make sure i knew where queens were and where they weren't.

hive that won't build up has tons of larvae and brood. i have no idea where they go after they hatch, but that hive is just not getting bigger.

split has larva and capped brood.

main...big hive, has larvae, capped brood, and queen cell....finally...but where did it come from at this late date?? and who is laying in that hive????

so.....i grabbed a little brood and shook in some bees, and made another split to put the queen in, in the morning. i tried to only get mature, capped brood and not to much. just wanted enough to hold bees. i'll leave queen caged until they get her out.

how did i end up with larvae in the main hive if i took the queen out and it's too soon for them to have requeened....a virgin in there that i missed? maybe, but i never saw signs of queen cells in that hive.

guess i'm just blowing off frustration, but i have no idea what's going on.

TwT · June 18, 2007, 07:41:34 PM

could have been a couple things like a 2 queen hive when you split it, they could have already decided to replace the queen and when you split it you might have took either queen unless the old queen was marked, also you could have missed a cell in the hive when you split, you just need to inspect that hive until you find a queen, make sure they are single eggs in the cells also. dont you just love it when bee's surprise you ;) .

this year I seen a 10 frame cell builder finish the first set of cell's then after the second set was installed and inspected after 10 days all cells was destroyed, now I would think a cell was missed some how but where would it have come from, was only a day from removing 25 cells and then reloading cells, and guest what the problem was, the hive was searched and guest what there was, yes a queen, but the thing about that was she was marked, all queens laying good patterns are marked after they prove themselves, but what hive did she leave to join this cell builder hive, this happen twice this year not to my hives but a friend that I am helping, no nukes were losed and why did they take a queen without introduction, guest they been trying to raise a queen so just took any they could find? but why did she leave her nuc and why did the bee's not follow her, she just popped up with a mark?????? who nose but it happened 2 times this year to the same cell builder.

Bennettoid · June 18, 2007, 07:45:50 PM

You had eggs laid on the frame that the girls decided to feed royal jelly and create a Queen after it hatched.

Remember-- 21 days and then she is still a virgin. I figure thirty days at least to a laying Queen, possibly longer, or maybe a Queen cell you hadn't noticed.

The important thing is that if you don't have a Queen, you will. If you do, they will take care of it.

Kathyp · June 18, 2007, 07:48:24 PM

i had thought the old queen had gone back to the original hive. i was going to requeen the 1st split. i guess there were two queens laying in that main hive ....that happened to me last year and the hive was awesome. i'm thinking that the reason this hive is so big, and the other so small, is that this hive had two laying queens....

oh well, it won't hurt to much to make a small split again. just gives me more options for next year.

Bennettoid · June 18, 2007, 07:51:00 PM

Quote from: kathyp on June 18, 2007, 07:48:24 PM
i had thought the old queen had gone back to the original hive. i was going to requeen the 1st split. i guess there were two queens laying in that main hive ....that happened to me last year and the hive was awesome. i'm thinking that the reason this hive is so big, and the other so small, is that this hive had two laying queens....

oh well, it won't hurt to much to make a small split again. just gives me more options for next year.

Absolutely!

Here I'm combining weak hives and your still making splits!!

I envy you.

Kathyp · June 18, 2007, 07:53:55 PM

not by choice :-) my season is to short to be messing around to much.

when i was in NJ i worked with one guy from Delaware. you must be the other? :-)

Bennettoid · June 18, 2007, 08:01:18 PM

Quote from: kathyp on June 18, 2007, 07:53:55 PM
not by choice :-) my season is to short to be messing around to much.

when i was in NJ i worked with one guy from Delaware. you must be the other? :-)

LOL

Actually, I've been quite impressed with the Delaware Bee Keepers Association. We have
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/

And the Eastern Apicultural Society is having its Annual weeklong Conference here this summer.
http://www.easternapiculture.org/programs/2007/

We may be little, but we're hot!