New package installed Apr 9th is queenless

Started by rmangus, May 02, 2009, 11:15:55 PM

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rmangus

I installed a new package on April 9th.  3 days later I had to release the queen.  I have checked them once a week or so since but havent been able to find the queen at all.  Today I spent quite a bit of time examining them.  They are bring in a lot of pollen, but there is no brood at all.  One frame had 4 queen cells on it.  I removed one and opend it up and it had larva in it.  Could a worker have laid in the queen cells?  If so could they make their own queen or would they be all drones?  Should I remove all the queen cells and get a new caged queen?  This is the only hive I have and I dont have any frames of brood i can add to it.  I am very disappointed because I figured it was about time for the population of the hive to start qoing up, instead of going down.  Any advice would be much appreciated.

RayMarler

Let them raise a queen themselves, should work out fine. Already capped queen cells should be hatching in 8 days or so. a week to two weeks and she'll be laying.

beryfarmer

I have similar problem.  Installed Russian package April 10th.  1 week later cage empty- assumed queen released.  However just checked hive and see no capped brood!  Couldn't find the queen either.  I started with new Pierco frames which are being drawn out nicely- lots of activity bringin in pollen etc .- but no capped brood yet.   thought i imagined larvae but i think it was optical illusion.  Could wait 3 more days to see if get capped brood but  bee pop will be going down.  Any advice?

MustbeeNuts

Not finding a queen is a pretty comon thing with new beeks, I hardly ever find a queen unless by accident. If they have brand new foundation , they can take a bit longer to start to take off. They need to pull that wax first. Give it a bit more, there's no real rush , you can always order a new queen. And get them up and running pretty quick. I thnk its rare when a queen actually doesn't make it, or leaves.
Each new day brings decisions,  these are  new branches on the tree of life.