Put a Queen in the Hive Today

MustbeeNuts · March 31, 2009, 01:07:48 PM

Sooo ok here's teh thing, I lost some hives this winter, one survived, a pretty quite hive, well last week or so I opened it up on a nice warm day. found the bees had alot of dead on the bottom board. Which I cleaned off. They had it seemed moved up into the honey super I left on for food over the winter. No unusal things there , but ,, the bees are so quite you would think they were dead, I examined the frames in the brood. no eggs at all. checked in the upper super and they have cleaned out some area's and are opening up the frame, however they are still pretty quite and no eggs at all... in fact the first few warm days they came out. Now on the nicest days no one comes out. There are lots of bees in there, a cluster the size of a pie plate. covering at least 4 frames.
Well so I decided after a long thought and asking question, that I needed a new queen. or either don't have one. So I got a queen today. I put her in the hive. I just layed the box I made for her and her attendents. I used a little grass oil, and in she went. The bees didn't seem to even care????? A few like maybe 20 climbed up the bank. They didn't bite at it, buzz at all. Just walked around and seemed to be just looking. I mean no real response at all. I am really perplexed. Has anyone ever seen this action on a hive?? Suggestions very welcome.

MustbeeNuts · March 31, 2009, 04:57:33 PM

quick up date, they still dont seem overly concerned, however I see that some of her escorts are now dead. I heard that escorts have a harder time fitting in or being accepted. The queen is fine so far. I think at this reate I may release her tommorow if there is opportunity for it. weather permitting. I do hope she gets fed ok.

MustbeeNuts · April 01, 2009, 01:27:27 PM

NObody??

annette · April 01, 2009, 01:41:05 PM

I am not an expert on this queen introduction thing, having only done this twice. The first introduction the bees sounded so estatic and made this loud buzzing noise when I placed that queen cage in the hive and they just loved her I could tell. I still have this queen. The second time I introduced a queen they did not seem that interested as yours sound, and they never showed much interest so I just let her out of the cage. They killed her.

You can never really tell and you just have to take the chance sometimes.

Kathyp · April 01, 2009, 02:03:47 PM

in my experience, they should be around her and attending to her. if they are not, she will die. are you very sure you don't have a queen in that hive already?

MustbeeNuts · April 01, 2009, 02:05:41 PM

not totally but I havent seen a single brood or an egg in two weeks, since it waarmed up they aren't flying anymore, just hangin out.

beeslinger · April 01, 2009, 02:26:42 PM

I wish I had the knowlege to help. Sounds like an interesting one..........................

MustbeeNuts · April 01, 2009, 02:46:56 PM

Well it don't look as tho the queen is doing well. Cold an or no acceptance. I released her but she just kinda fell out and down in to the frames. She didn't act to lively, but then again its only 37 degrees here right now.

Michael Bush · April 01, 2009, 08:30:10 PM

Were they queenless? No brood right now in Michigan might not be proof of no queen. Was the queen where the bees were? Did she get chilled?

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#requeening

MustbeeNuts · April 01, 2009, 11:42:28 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on April 01, 2009, 08:30:10 PM
Were they queenless? No brood right now in Michigan might not be proof of no queen. Was the queen where the bees were? Did she get chilled?

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#requeening

she probly was chilled, I put her into one of the fancy frame queen units for layin worker things.she was pretty slow moving, I looked for a queen on a warmer day but couldnt see one and with no brood and no flying figured she was gone. Alot of bees died in the hive over the winter an inch deep on the bottom board. I probably am wrong but I was pretty sure no queen.

Brian D. Bray · April 03, 2009, 12:45:52 AM

If I recall Michigan is usually considered a colder state than Washington and we've had snow the last few days. With temps in the Thirties I'm not surprized there's no brood in the hive. If your spring as been as unseasonably cold, verses average, as ours has been it possible your queen is still in winter brood dearth mode. I would wait until the temps have reached at least the mid 40's for several days (Like a week or so) and then recheck.

Some queens will keep an ongoing small brood nest most of the winter but brood eats up stores at 10 times the rate of mature bees. I'm noticing that more and more queens seem to be going into brood dearth at different times. Cold weather is understandable because of the need to conserve stores for the survival of the entire hive. Brood dearths after a flow seems to be geared more toward mite control and a switch from mass production of brood to a more limited brood chamber of winter type bees.

I've been trying to get beginner and intermmediate Beekeepers not to panic over a brood dearth for some time. The lack of brood does not necessarily mean the lack of a queen, that is why the frame of brood test is so important. How the bees react to the new brood, whether they build queen cells or not, or the queen begins laying again, is the important thing to note. If you haven't used the frame of brood test, and you have 2 or more hives, then you shouldn't be thinking queenless hive. After acouple frames of brood and no difinitive action by the hive then I'd do a thorough sift through a queen excluder before I went bonkers about possibly being queenless.

MustbeeNuts · April 14, 2009, 09:49:40 PM

Just a quick update , I have now found brood in the hive. not much but enough to know she is there. only one lavae to a cell and there in the bottom. so a good sign. now if she would just pick up the pace. LOL

So now what else can I stew over... Oh ya.......I think maybe I saw a queen fly away from my newly installed package.. LOL