Possible swarm/emrgency queen

**TheBuzzonBees** · 10-03-2011, 09:46 PM

Well im currently on swarm patrol with my hive. I opened it up today and saw brood multiple frames but not nearly as many as two weeks ago. I also did not see any eggs or my normal queen. Im pretty sure one of the bees i saw was an emergency virgin queen. She was significantly smaller than my last queen but had an extended abdomen like a normal queen she was also smaller than a normal virgin would be. I also noticed chilled brood and a pile up of dead bees.
Please i'm getting very worried help me.

**Charlie B** · 10-04-2011, 10:51 AM

From what you've written it sounds like they did indeed swarm. It happens. Nothing to worry about. Your virgin will mate and they'll start all over again. Hope for plenty of drones in your area. I would check again in several weeks to see if you have eggs yet.

**TheBuzzonBees** · 10-04-2011, 10:22 PM

Thanks. I found the virgin queen dead outside the hive today. So presume she tried to go on her mating flight and died so i've ordered a new mated queen from my supplier.

**Joseph Clemens** · 10-04-2011, 10:53 PM

Are you sure it was the "reigning virgin" and not one of the "has-been" rivals that you found dead?

**TheBuzzonBees** · 10-05-2011, 02:33 AM

I am pretty sure it was as you say the "reigning queen" i found dead because after another look through the hive i was 99% certain that there were no other queens within the hive nor were there any queen cells.

**Michael Bush** · 10-05-2011, 03:22 AM

If they raised a new queen she could be a virgin for a couple of weeks. They are virtually impossible to spot. They are small, fast and they hide.

**Charlie B** · 10-05-2011, 11:33 AM

I had a hive swarm back in July and couldn't see a queen or eggs for 3 weeks. It took about four days to get a queen after that. I was about to introduce the queen cage when I discovered eggs and her majesty running around. I'm glad I checked first before just sliding in the cage.