virgin or mated queen

[psbeekeeper]

Today one our hives swarned.  After waiting for a little bit my dad am I decided to check the hive out.  We found about 12 capped queen cells and 2 open ones. After looking aroung we put the hive back together and noticed the queen on the side of the hive, she hovered in the air for a second and walked back in thre the entrance.  My question is, would a virgin queen or only a mated queen do that?

[Michael Bush]

I have seen a mated queen outside the hive on a couple of occasions, but odds are it's a virgin who is orienting.

[JP]

Y'all do a split yet? 12 capped queen cells is a recipe for more swarms or several new set ups if you can beat them to the punch.

Best of luck.


...JP

[psbeekeeper]

I don't think splitting is an option right now.  It's rather late in the season, and the hives would not have a chance to build up.

[JP]

Hard to give advice over the computer without seeing your set up and those frames but if they are supersedure or emergency queen cells, fine, but if swarm cells, you likely will lose more to swarming.

You could do mini splits with nucs.

Just responding based on what has been mentioned.


...JP

[Tommyt]

If its to late to do splits and so many Queen cells won't that cause swarm(s)
when they Hatch out or is it Best when things like this happen
to kill the Q cells

Tommyt

[rdy-b]

the two cells you said where open- where they open from the end or chewed through the side-orjust not capped yet-RDY-B

[FRAMEshift]

If its to late to do splits and so many Queen cells won't that cause swarm(s)
when they Hatch out or is it Best when things like this happen
to kill the Q cells
Tommyt

There is not really ever a good reason to kill queen cells.  If they are supercedure cells and the hive lets them emerge, they are probably needed.  If they are swarm cells and you kill them, the hive may swarm anyway and then be queenless.  Rather than kill them you can use some for nucs, but this is not the time of year for that.

[BjornBee]

Today one our hives swarned.  After waiting for a little bit my dad am I decided to check the hive out.  We found about 12 capped queen cells and 2 open ones. After looking aroung we put the hive back together and noticed the queen on the side of the hive, she hovered in the air for a second and walked back in thre the entrance.  My question is, would a virgin queen or only a mated queen do that?

It could of been either one.

Virgin queens do have a habit of running off the comb and over the sides of a box. So if you were inspecting, I would say it was probably a virgin as you still had capped cells, the old queen had left, and there was not enough time for the first emerged queen to mate.

[psbeekeeper]

the two cells you said where open- where they open from the end or chewed through the side-orjust not capped yet-RDY-B

Their were only 2 cells that were chewed out of the side.  The others looked like they were not touched.

[psbeekeeper]

Today one our hives swarned.  After waiting for a little bit my dad am I decided to check the hive out.  We found about 12 capped queen cells and 2 open ones. After looking aroung we put the hive back together and noticed the queen on the side of the hive, she hovered in the air for a second and walked back in thre the entrance.  My question is, would a virgin queen or only a mated queen do that?

It could of been either one.

Virgin queens do have a habit of running off the comb and over the sides of a box. So if you were inspecting, I would say it was probably a virgin as you still had capped cells, the old queen had left, and there was not enough time for the first emerged queen to mate.

Being that if it were a virgin queen, and eggs would still present inside the hive. Would she have enough time to mate and still be able to build up the hive before winter?

[BjornBee]

Yes, but what a bad timing for a swarm.

We need 6-8 frames of brood for the fall brood period. It usually, or should, last for 60 days. I always aim for the 15th of August to the 15th of October. Maybe this year, the weather will hold out and extend some of the season.

It's not about how many bees are left, but how much brood is being raised. Certainly a brood break at this time is not good. But a young queen may go crazy and lay for another 4-6 weeks, with a little feed and open comb.

[psbeekeeper]

At the time it was checked their were lots of eggs and open brood.  Hopefully I'll get lucky.

[rdy-b]

give it three days(from the time of swarm ) and check again for eggs-since the egg hatches in three days you will know if the eggs where laid before or after the swarm-the fact that the cells where chewed out the side indicates that a virgin hatched and started chewing the cells-because a mated queen wont chew the cells -typically only virgin queens chew up cells-my guess would be the virgin flew with the swarm -and the old queen stayed behind-also where on the frame where the cells top-bottom -it will give us more info about what is going on in the hive- :) RDY-B

[tecumseh]

snip..
My question is, would a virgin queen or only a mated queen do that?

tecumseh:
sometime the proper answer is.... it could be either or both.

given that you still have queen cells that have not emerged or been cut down then if the queen is mated (and looks mated) it is likely the old queen.  if the queen in question was unmated then she should still look like an unmated queen.  you can have both in the hive at the same time.  sometimes when the old queen leaves and then returns close examination reveal that she has some incapacity that does not allow her to fly.  even once the new queen mates it is not that unusual to have multiple queens in one hive (I suspect it is much more common than some folks seem to believe).

[psbeekeeper]

also where on the frame where the cells top-bottom -it will give us more info about what is going on in the hive- :) RDY-B

The cells were at the top and also as the bottom.