Why won't they re-queen? Or do I have to do it?

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

I have a Carni hive with a lazy queen. So far only one 8 frame deep is filled, and they have been working on the second. I know the weather has been bad, but all my other Carni hives are doing pretty good.

So why won't they make a new queen?

Being a Carni hive, can I add any breed of queen?

[Andrew Dewey]

You could force them to make a new queen by killing your current one. Not guaranteed to be successful (make sure they have appropriate raw material to work with) and you'll have a time lag before the replacement queen starts laying. Better in my opinion to dispatch the current queen and replace her with a purchased one. Yes you can introduce a queen of any breed that you would like, though you may need to go through some steps to make acceptance better. (For example, when I introduced a Russian Queen to an Italian hive, I had no attendants in the queen cage and I delayed release of the queen by 3 days by covering the candy on the queen cage with masking tape)

Introducing queens is not successful 100% of the time. Learn what you can to be as close to 100% as possible.

[BeeTech]

Are Carni's one of the breeds that reduce laying durring a dearth?

[kincade]

Are Carni's one of the breeds that reduce laying durring a dearth?

Mine do. They sometimes even stop.

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

Are Carni's one of the breeds that reduce laying durring a dearth?

They will...but they never "took off" before the dearth.

[KQ6AR]

I had a lazy carnie this year, the bees kept her around for months.
The safest way would be to move her to a nuc with a frame of bees, & a frame of honey. If you're bees fail in raising a queen in 30 Days, You'll still have the carni available.

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

I ordered a new queen. I am going to pinch the existing queen and introduce the new one same as a package.

Any advice appreciated.

[kincade]

If you are sure she is a bum queen and not just responding to a dearth (which many areas are in the midst of right now) then here is how I do it:

Cage the existing queen at your convenience (since she may take a while to find or multiple trips) and leave her in the hive and wait for your new queen. When your new queen arrives verify she is healthy then take old queen out and drop her in a bottle of alcohol. Wait 24 hours (no longer). Go through the new hive, knock down any queen cups and queen cells. I rub the new queen cage with some wax from the old hive, take out the cork covering the queen candy, wet the queen cage a bit with sugar water, mark the queen, and install the queen cage on a frame with emerging brood. Wait 3-5 days, verify she has been released, and take out the queen cage (using very little/no smoke and disturbing the hive as little as possible). Wait at least a week before you check on the hive again for eggs. I've had queens take up to 2.5 weeks to start laying.

Question: Have you tried feeding the hive to see if she starts laying again? That would be an easy way to verify if she's responding to conditions or just a poor queen. Each one of my hives is a bit different even though they are all Carniolan).

If you end up ordering try to get your queen from Honey Run. He is reputed to have exceptional Carniolan queens.

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

She is a bum queen. My two other Carni hives have supers on them with honey, they also filled out deeps to.

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

Added the new queen, an Italian one. Found the old queen in less than a minute! Upon investigation, found the the bottom deep was not fully drawn out either. I hope this new queen will help them build up for fall.

[NorthernIllinoisPlumber]

looks like the queen was accepted!