More queen confusion...

gundalf · August 02, 2010, 10:06:16 AM

I have a problem. Started with two packages in mid April and lost my first Italian queen after 28 days. Installed a Russian queen from Kelley on day 32. Checked 5 days later and found that they had an unmarked queen of their own and had tossed the Russian. Things went real well for about 7 or 8 weeks but when I checked yesterday and in the medium super that is on top of my original deep, nearly all the brood had hatched and there was about 80% of the cells clean but empty. Couldn't check the deep, due to weather, but I think this queen may also be gone, since I spotted 4 large queen cells on the bottom of the medium super... What to do now that the season is so late??? Do I get another queen or let them raise one??? I'll reopen it today and examine the deep... More info this pm...

harvey · August 02, 2010, 01:15:34 PM

I think your best bet is to let them raise there own. For one a break in the brood cycle is not a bad thing, will help with the mites! Second I think if they are geared to raising one they are going to anyway and if you put another queen in there you may very well find one of the new queens kills it and takes over anyway!

gundalf · August 02, 2010, 05:03:04 PM

I hear you, Harvey and concur... Thanks for the reply... Went in to the deep today at 83 degrees and they were totally unbehaved... My gloves got 30 stings... It got rather hectic and although I couldn't locate the queen, I found larva and brood but I found very little nectar and nearly no capped honey... Sooo!!! I plan to feed them 1.5 to 1 for a bit and see if that helps... Any comments or advise appreciated...

gundalf · August 02, 2010, 07:38:13 PM

Oh yeah! No eggs... Needless to say, I left the queen cells...

gundalf · August 04, 2010, 11:01:01 PM

Had some major robbing going on after feeding for 10 hours or so, but got it under control by restricting access to the hive and screening off the top vent... Got attacked by both sides during the robbing incident... Someone tell me if I'm on the right track...

Kathyp · August 04, 2010, 11:15:51 PM

how do your other hives look? you get robbing often when you try to feed only one hive. what kind of feeder are you using?

gundalf · August 05, 2010, 04:14:27 PM

Other hive is great... Started it at the same time with no queen problems... They have one deep and one medium drawn and filled with brood, honey and pollen, below the QE and nearly two mediums drawn above, with about 70% filled with nectar... They were the robbers though... Like some of our citizens, why work for it when you can steal it... Thanks for the reply... Tom

gundalf · August 05, 2010, 04:22:15 PM

OOPS! You asked about the feeder. It's the wooden double top feeder but I think I messed up by putting the inner cover back on top, so there was an easy access for the neighbors... I think that I'll build some screened inner covers for summer/fall when it's hot and develop an easy vent plug that I can open and close without removing the outer cover...