View Full Version : HOW LONG CAN SHE HOLD OUT?
BULLSEYE BILL
03-14-2005, 11:06 PM
When doing my spring manipulations I found one queenless hive. No eggs, larva, or capped cells, but good population. I had just finished inspecting a booming hive with capped drone cells and lots of brood.
I took one frame of brood and gave it to the queenless hive to either strengthen them or for them to make a queen.
IF they make a queen, will she be too early for the drones? And if so how long can she wait to mate? I am of the opinion that the timing will be close.
Fusion_power
03-14-2005, 11:23 PM
If they raise a queen, she will hatch out in 10 or 11 days. She will be ready to mate one week after that and can wait as much as another week and a half to mate. That gives you 18 days to optimum mating and 28 days for late mating. If you go back and add another 2 frames of brood in a week, they should even make a crop this year.
Fusion
franc
03-15-2005, 07:00 PM
Its probably too early for very many drones to be around but sometimes a older queen will lay a few early drones and if you are installing any packages or someone near/couple miles from you has installed a package,it may come with a few mature drones.Id say its worth a try.
BULLSEYE BILL
03-28-2005, 08:34 AM
Well the good news is I have a queen cell on the bottom of the frame. smile.gif Bad news is it wasn't a large, fat cell. :( Good news is there was fresh nectar in the hive, I have no idea where it came from. smile.gif (I only see Silver Maples, Elm, Cherry, and yard flowers in bloom) It was too cold to see many bees flying, so I did not see any drones at all. :( There was not enough bees in the hive to cover all the brood I gave them and it appears that the outside edge of the brood has been abandoned and lost. :( If this queen does not work out, I can snuff her, :( and add another frame of eggs. smile.gif This week will be in the 70's / 40's all week and not expected to get any colder. :D
Well, the real cold of winter is over. And my losses were only 15% with no treatment other than Oxalic acid.
ks.bee.kpr
03-29-2005, 12:29 PM
Wish I could say the same Bill but we used no treatment period. We lost many hives this year :( :(
Rushmore Beez
03-30-2005, 09:00 AM
I had the same situation with a hive on March 5 this year. I to was worried that it was to early for the queen to mate as the weather was still quite cold here in western South Dakota. I went ahead and gave them a frame of brood and eggs from another colony. I checked them this past weekend (March 27) and they had a nice dark queen which was begining to lay. Sometimes they will surprise you with their abilities. Good Luck
Michael Bush
03-30-2005, 09:21 AM
In South Dakota in March!? Wow.
Hillbillynursery
03-30-2005, 03:56 PM
Rushmore I hope she is not a drone layer as I was thinking like MB that was way to early to make a queen.
I am thinking the same thing. Pretty early for PA too.
RaytownDave
04-04-2005, 08:59 PM
Rushmore keep us informed on if you got a good laying queen or a droan laying queen.
BULLSEYE BILL
04-04-2005, 11:57 PM
Well, I checked Sunday and found a dead queen pupa. :( They just could not keep her warm enough to hatch, we had a little cold spell last week that must have done her in. I gave them another frame of eggs and brood to try again. I think the timing will be better this time and there are more bees now that the first frame has hatched out.
Saw drones finally, but not any flying so I expect that all will end well.