Virgin Queen?

allisono · September 14, 2011, 11:03:06 PM

Hi All,

I am still concerned about my hive, here's my earlier posts for reference:

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34548.msg285151.html#msg285151
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34441.msg284973.html#msg284973

So, here's a little history on this hive:

8/15 We removed a super on this hive and all appeared well. Although I didn't check the brood box well given that we wanted to keep the peace when robbing honey from the bees... I can only assume it got too crowded in the brood box. I wasn't worrying about swarming as everyone has been telling me that's not much of a problem here in Gainesville in August. Wrong! First time beekeeper learns otherwise!
8/21 I went to do my sugar dusting and noticed that the hive was greatly reduced in bee numbers, it must have swarmed... There were quite a few queen cups at this time in addition to several converted worker cells. Bee behavior was unusual: seemed pretty lethargic, most of the bees were in the brood box, there were hardly ANY bees up in the super!
8/24 Further inspected queen cups and noted larvae of various ages, woo-hoo! Bee behavior was still like that mentioned above.
8/27 I gave this hive a frame of brood (with eggs) and pollen (they are low in comparison with my other hive) from my other hive. Most of my queen cups were now sealed at this time.
9/3 Lots of bees in the brood box again, seemed more normal as far as behavior went. No converted worker cells.
9/6 All of my queen cups have been tore down. I also gave them another frame of brood (with eggs) and some pollen. I can see they are bringing in a bit more pollen now and are working at capping some honey up in the super.
9/11 No converted worker cells still. Still no eggs and I have some open laying arcs still, though they are putting more honey and pollen (this has picked up) down in the brood box (I am definitely keeping an eye on it!). I should also mentioned that I still have some drones, I have spotted the boys. I've tried spotting my virgin queen (if I have one, lol), but to no avail, though I realize this is very hard to do! Also, I have not spotted any laying worker eggs anywhere...

Onto some questions... Being that I am new to this I am wondering if the above seems like a normal course or if I should be worried yet? I could always combine this hive with my other if things get bad, but I'd like to give the bees a chance to fix their beekeeper's mistake first, lol... How long is it going to take before I can recognize my queen (if she's there, I think she is based on the above observations...)?

Any advice would be most welcomed... Learning one day at a time here...

Best,

Allison

FRAMEshift · September 14, 2011, 11:22:27 PM

There is currently a good thread on how to post your issues. You might want to take a look because I found your post hard to read and it was not clear what you were asking.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,34689.msg286611.html#msg286611

BjornBee · September 15, 2011, 07:56:22 AM

Allison,

You did the right thing feeding over frames of eggs and brood. this will fend off laying workers.

If all your queen cells were either hatched or torn down 9/6, you are still within the window of her not laying yet. Keep adding another frame of eggs and brood per week. I am sure you will see eggs from the queen in the next week or two.

Your doing fine. ;)

D Coates · September 15, 2011, 12:14:58 PM

"9-11, no converted worker cells still..."

In my eyes, there's your answer. You've got a queen in there, she just hasn't started laying yet. I just did what you are describing myself with a trap out. There were no fresh eggs and I was getting a little antsy as I felt the queen should be laying by then. I added a frame with brood and eggs. They didn't convert any of the frame of brood into Q-cells. Fast forward 2-weeks and it looks like there's an egg in every cell, and I even found the queen (marked her too). If you don't have a laying queen by the end of next week adding a frame of brood wouldn't hurt. But if they start making Queen cells you may be better off combining the hive with a queenright hive as it may be too late to get a new queen properly bread and a cycle or two of fresh bees to overwinter with.

Hang in there, I'd bet dollars to donuts you've got a queen in there.

allisono · September 15, 2011, 06:17:16 PM

Thanks D Coates and BjornBee, I appreciate your thoughts and reassurance :)

allisono · September 18, 2011, 11:02:26 PM

Hey All,

Looks like all is well with my hive :) I was in doing an inspection today and I have some new brood in the hive that wasn't brood that I introduced. Still didn't find the queen, but found signs she is doing well with the brood :) Nice laying pattern, etc. So excited they are doing well!

On another note, my other hive is doing well also! I have a BUNCH of new brood, frame after frame. I was a little shocked by the number of new brood as I expected things to be slowing down here in Florida for the fall, guess they haven't gotten the message. The bees have been bringing a lot of pollen in lately too!

Allison

Tommyt · September 19, 2011, 12:02:21 AM

Congrats Allisono
Glad your time spent feeding frames of brood payed off.
You got good advice,proved these folks are pretty good at
helping out.
IMHO info on, no swarms this time of year in Fl.
as you found out is not so!! but quite the opposite,with the rains this year many of
the folks at our club are getting good amounts of swarm calls also splitting their own
even without the bonus flow this year,we always have a
second swarm season toward the end of summer.
I have a Kenya top bar hive at the house, I had left the brood area alone for the last
2 months,I figured they would swarm so I put a catch box out 2.5 weeks ago it was
10 ft, from the main hive,which is very close,I'm in the city so I gambled.
I didn't see it happen but my swarm box as of Friday it full of bees. :-D
I noticed my main hive has almost zero bearding,I will check soon but am betting
I caught my own bees

Tommyt

allisono · September 21, 2011, 06:35:15 PM

Good point Tommyt,

I think I am learning to expect the unexpected here, lol... Just picked up the Hive and Honey Bee book the other week, so I can get a better grasp on some things too! Also going to take the class Dr. Ellis offers over at UF next spring as I am a UF employee and the Employee Education program covers it, even better! I'm glad for the multiple opinions on here also as it has been very helpful to my learning... Thought about joining one of the local bee clubs, but I have heard they can be very political, so I am not sure that is for me. In addition to my sometimes crazy work and school schedule...

Actually, it's rather interesting that we have hardly gotten any rain here in Gainesville (I am on the north side). Until yesterday I think it only had rained 3-4 times in the last 1.5 months. Seriously, my horse pasture has never looked so bad. But, my bees have done good enough to even swarm on me, lol... I am keeping an eye on my other hive that is very strong. Both my hives have a bunch of brood right now. The stronger one (one that hasn't swarmed) has 4 frames right now, so I am going to give another frame in a few days to the weaker hive along with some pollen (they are a little low). Yesterday was queen tooting day in both my hives too. I always walk by the hives in the morning before I go to work and then late at night when I feed the animals and my queens from both hives were going to it "tooting."

Allison