Small, queenless early spring hive (bad)...but with queen cell?

Glyco · March 25, 2016, 10:04:19 AM

I started beekeeping last year and this is my only hive; I'm extremely confused.

It's still pretty cold here in Yorkshire, UK (highs of 10degC) but today was a bit nicer so I was able to do my spring inspection. There is a fully-fledged queen cell at the bottom of the hive, plenty of stores, absolutely no brood and almost no flying bees. I didn't get the chance to check whether the queen cell was occupied because the sun went in and the bees were getting cold. There has been very little hive activity all spring (it's in my garden so I keep an eye out), even when bumblebees have been out and about and the number of bees has dwindled since I last took a peek.

What is going on?! I had a viable queen going into winter but have had a lot of trouble keeping queens; two absconded last summer (didn't find a body). The hive was small going into winter but varroa numbers are very low - just one mite dropped in a couple of weeks.

What should I do? My instinct is to buy a new queen as the cheaper option (from a different source than the others, who have had no staying power) and hope the hive can build up. It is VERY small though.

BeeMaster2 · March 25, 2016, 12:48:50 PM

Glyco,
You say you have almost no flying bees. Are there enough bees to cover the frames? Was the queen cell beeing covered with bees? If not it is probably dead.
You said your bees absconded. That means that all of the bees left the hive. Did you replace it late in the season with a swarm or are you trying to say that the queen died?
If you have at least a softball size hive of bees AND you can get the queen right now then I would say yes get a new queen. Reduce the hive down to only what the bees can cover, put un-drawn foundation in the frames they cannot cover.
If you do not have enough bees, start making up swarm traps.
Jim

Glyco · March 25, 2016, 04:39:55 PM

Hi sawdstmakr,

Thank you for replying. A few more details:

The queen died twice last year (the bees did not abscond), but I was unable to find the body. No swarming and the hive never really built up as it should due to losing the queens and inclement weather. I managed to get them through the winter in a sheltered spot with feeding and there's certainly no obvious disease in the hive...but no, the bees weren't covering the queen cell.

I do have a softball-sized hive of bees, but I've checked and queens won't be available in my area for another couple of weeks. I seriously doubt the hive will last that long given that the number of bees have dwindled over the past few weeks (probably due to old age), so time to order myself a nuc, build my second hive, get myself some lures and set up swarm traps...

Thanks again. Better to know and it be bad news than to have false hope!

BeeMaster2 · March 25, 2016, 09:36:16 PM

Quote from: Glyco on March 25, 2016, 04:39:55 PM
Hi sawdstmakr,

Thank you for replying. A few more details:

The queen died twice last year (the bees did not abscond), but I was unable to find the body. No swarming and the hive never really built up as it should due to losing the queens and inclement weather. I managed to get them through the winter in a sheltered spot with feeding and there's certainly no obvious disease in the hive...but no, the bees weren't covering the queen cell.

I do have a softball-sized hive of bees, but I've checked and queens won't be available in my area for another couple of weeks. I seriously doubt the hive will last that long given that the number of bees have dwindled over the past few weeks (probably due to old age), so time to order myself a nuc, build my second hive, get myself some lures and set up swarm traps...

Thanks again. Better to know and it be bad news than to have false hope!

It does depend on your weather. If it is cold enough to keep your bees from leaving the hive until you can get a new queen, then they will bee OK.
I suspect this is not the case because it takes warm weather for the queen breeders to mate the queens.
If you had a refrigerator large enough to put them in you might bee able to save them.
We had a bee inspector that did this with a hive and then, thinking they were dead, 2 months later, he put the hive in a friends car with no netting. Several miles down the road they came pouring out.

Jim

iddee · March 25, 2016, 10:36:47 PM

It takes 21 days for a worker to emerge. It only takes 16 for a queen. If you don't have capped worker cells, the queen cell is dead. Buy a queen or a new batch of bees.

Rurification · March 27, 2016, 09:59:01 AM

Glyco - welcome to the forum. There are a lot of very knowledgeable and friendly people here. Put your location in your profile and you'll get answers even faster. We have some great members from your area of the world.

little john · March 27, 2016, 01:14:30 PM

The season hasn't started yet in this neck of the woods (I'm probably 50 miles or so to the south of you).
In South Lincolnshire there has only been one proper flying day thus far, and that was on Friday. Other than that day (which was gorgeous - bucketfuls of pollen being brought in), all we've had so far this year are a few 2-3 hour windows of sun, just long enough for clearance flights.

I haven't opened any of my hives yet, and don't plan on doing so for at least another week, as right now I wouldn't expect to see much in the way of brood rearing or any developing drones.

Because of this persistent cold weather, I don't plan on starting any queen-rearing for at least another month, but I do have a few surplus over-wintered nucs which I've kept back for this kind of emergency. Can be contacted via PM.

Alternatively, you should be able to source an imported queen right now, but the early ones are not cheap.

LJ

KeyLargoBees · March 27, 2016, 02:25:48 PM

Awesome LJ

...and the best part is I had written up a post I decided not to push send on directing him to PM you for advice and resources but didn't want to assume and "throw you under the bus" and here you do it on your own ;-)

Love this group.

little john · March 27, 2016, 05:12:50 PM

Very happy to help if I can - but - Yorkshire is a big spread of land, so big that it's divided into three separate areas ('Ridings') - a beautiful county, BTW.
I live at the bottom end of Lincolnshire (near Boston - setting-off point for The Pilgrim Fathers, a few hundred years ago) which is the adjacent county, so distance may be an issue. Hopefully there's someone more local who can bail the OP out, but I've invariably got surplus colonies (of various sizes) for anyone who's in a position to visit.
I love this group too.

LJ