View Full Version : PROBLEM, vacated hive??? Help...
I have a hivein which my russians have decided they didn't like. I caught the swarm and introduced them to a new hive box. They seem to be happy there but I have about a third of the bees return to the old hive with the left over brood still inside. They have now made themselves at home working happily away with no queen. Will the raise a new queen or should I introduce a new one? Does the new queen have to be russian or can I use an italian? I hate to lose the "confused" colony but I know they can't last but so long without hive reproduction. anyone been through this before?
Hambone
05-22-2009, 10:32 PM
I have a hivein which my russians have decided they didn't like. I caught the swarm and introduced them to a new hive box. They seem to be happy there but I have about a third of the bees return to the old hive with the left over brood still inside.
I am a little confused on what you are say here.
They have now made themselves at home working happily away with no queen. Will the raise a new queen or should I introduce a new one? Does the new queen have to be russian or can I use an italian? I hate to lose the "confused" colony but I know they can't last but so long without hive reproduction. anyone been through this before?
If you caught a swarm and put them in a new box it will take 10-14 days before the queen starts laying again. If you are sure there is no queen you can place a frame of eggs in there and they will make their own queen. Or yes you can intro an Itialian, Russian, whatever.
Thanks Derek...I was hoping that may be the case. I have another question along these lines...the old hive that they have decided to return to does have some of the old brood left and it is still hatching out new bees. Will they raise a new queen out of this or should I still put another frame of brood in with them? This is not a "full" frame of brood, only a partial....will this be sufficient or should I still add another full frame from another hive?
I have been watching them hoping they would raise a queen but nothing yet. It has been roughly 12 days or so and I wanted to make sure I did all I could to take care of them.
Thanks again for your help.
DOrr
NasalSponge
05-22-2009, 11:02 PM
They can only make a queen from a 4 day old egg....anything over that it is too late. If you have some frames of freshly laid eggs put that in there and they should make a queen.
Thanks. I'll do that first thing when I get up in the morning. I've never seen or heard of this before.
just do a newspaper combine of the two boxes.
Can't do the news paper. The "confused" 1/3rd colony that returned is in an observation hive. Good idea though. Thanks.
Kelbee
05-23-2009, 10:16 AM
That does sound like odd behavior.
Are you sure there's not a queen/swarm cell that was already established before they swarmed? Perhaps the new queen has already hatched and they already destroyed her cell you have a virgin queen that hasn't started laying yet?
At any rate adding a frame with eggs will either solve the problem (allow them to produce a queen) or answer the question (if they don't make queen cells it means they already have a queen).
Or it could be a new small swarm ?
Well, either or. I just put in the frame of brood. It had pollen and honey also, but still covered about 2/3 in brood. I'll give it about 4 days to see if they raise their own queen, but they're already 12 days into the ob-hive with no queen. If they do have a virgin queen already, I haven't located her yet. I haven't seen a queen cell since they've been in the hive, before or after the swarm. Maybe this will give them the chance they need.