queenless hive

dbart · August 04, 2009, 01:41:44 AM

I just went and checked one of my hives and found out it had no queen. I had added a third deep super about 10 days ago. At the time the hive seemed to be doing great. I believe I was late adding the box because all ten frames in the 2nd box were fairly full and drawn. I scraped off about 6-8 swarm cells. I noticed the hive today seemed somewhat inactive so I peeked inside to find no queen, no eggs, no uncapped brood. The hive population seemed less that what it was ten days ago, so I suspect swarming. There was one queen cell in the upper third of one frame. I'm wondering if that one cell is enough to provide a new queen of should I add a frame of new eggs from a different hive. I'm also not sure if its too late in the year to produce a new queen for winter. Would combing hives be a better option. Also is there anywhere I can purchase a queen now (and not cost $50 to do it) This is my first year and any help is greatly appreciated!!

bee-nuts · August 04, 2009, 05:35:04 AM

I really sucks when you find no brood. Ive been there.

I would call your local beekeepers association and see if they know if someone in your area may have queens for sale.

I did a quick search and found http://www.utahbeekeepers.com/

I would make a few calls and see what you can find out. There should bee a couple mated queens for sale somewhere near you.

I will leave the real advice about what to do to the experts on here. I'm sure you will hear from them soon enough.

Bee-Bop · August 04, 2009, 09:41:39 AM

Not being a expert;

Most all good Beekeeping books, say not to scrape Queen Cells, this is not the method to stop a swarm, It just makes your hive Queen less!

Your bees made their decision to swarm, that's why they built the Queen Cells [ once ] !! :bee:

Bee-Bop

alflyguy · August 04, 2009, 04:02:24 PM

I agree removeing queen cells is, most of the time, not a good method of preventing swarms. All you can do now is recover. Your one cell may be enough but it's a lot quicker to put in a "store bought" queen. I believe Draper's Super Bee Apiaries [[email protected]] still has some.

Kathyp · August 04, 2009, 04:11:34 PM

guessing that your weather is close to mine, i am on the very edge of where i would let them make a queen. it won't be long before they are kicking out the drones. the safest way to save the hive, short of combining, is to go on and buy one. if you don't want to do that, you can combine now, and split in the spring.

if you are going to let them make their own, put a frame of capped brood in, in addition to the frame of eggs. that way you won't lose so many bees while you wait for your queen.

riverrat · August 04, 2009, 04:18:37 PM

I would put a frame of eggs in from another hive first to see if you are indeed queenless or you have a virgin queen. A lot of times when cutting swarm cells it is hard to get them alll.

Joelel · August 04, 2009, 05:30:27 PM

Quote from: dbart on August 04, 2009, 01:41:44 AM
I just went and checked one of my hives and found out it had no queen. I had added a third deep super about 10 days ago. At the time the hive seemed to be doing great. I believe I was late adding the box because all ten frames in the 2nd box were fairly full and drawn. I scraped off about 6-8 swarm cells. I noticed the hive today seemed somewhat inactive so I peeked inside to find no queen, no eggs, no uncapped brood. The hive population seemed less that what it was ten days ago, so I suspect swarming. There was one queen cell in the upper third of one frame. I'm wondering if that one cell is enough to provide a new queen of should I add a frame of new eggs from a different hive. I'm also not sure if its too late in the year to produce a new queen for winter. Would combing hives be a better option. Also is there anywhere I can purchase a queen now (and not cost $50 to do it) This is my first year and any help is greatly appreciated!!

You never should remove swarm cells unless your making splits. I would add a frame of new eggs from an other hive or buy a queen. I think you can get a queen here for $43.00 shipping and all next day air.

http://www.koehnen.com/packages.html

sarafina · August 04, 2009, 10:56:40 PM

You might try calling Walter T. Kelly. I just bought an Italian queen from them (they have Russians, too) for $25. They send them out regular mail so you have to keep a close eye on your mailbox! :shock: They are in Kentucky, so that's a long way by regular mail but he does guarantee live delivery.

Good luck!
Sarah

sc-bee · August 04, 2009, 11:59:33 PM

If you are indeed queenless???

Depends on where you want you queen to come from. Queens from large breeders are usually discounted this time of year.

If a queen from GA meets your needs. I just got three from Rossman (Italians) $17. And called Spell Bee for delivery and they have Italians $11 and Russian Hybrid Mix 13.50

Both will ship next day or priority USPS. Priority USPS is suppose to be there in three to four days but we know what that means.

I had a shipment from AL didn't make it until 14 days( the shipper shipped some to Maine the same day that made it in four--- go figure. The second from AL made it in 3. The first from Georgia made it in 3. Of course I am in SC.

thegolfpsycho · August 05, 2009, 07:53:41 PM

Did you call Jones Bee in SLC? They usually have some queens from Kohnen