I have a hive that appears to be queenless. The hive was started from a nuc and progressed well through the spring and first part
of the summer. They filled the brood box an a medium. since robbing my other hives this hive seems like it is not as active. Today I done an inspection and could not find the queen or any sign of a queen. No larvae or capped brood. The hive seems to be low in numbers compared to other hives. I am new to this and would like an opinion if what i think is right. If so, are queens still available. I plan to check one more time this afternoon
to verify. I don't want to loose this hive if possible. Any advice would be appreciated.
When was the last time you saw the queen and or capped brood? If you don't have any capped brood you have been queen less or she stopped laying over 21 days ago. Lots of queens stop laying (many reasons why) so you need to make sure she is gone before putting in another one. Also, did you not have any queen cells or cups? Or have you cut some out recently?
Don't remember the last time I saw capped brood. didn't inspect during the honey flow. Just noticed less activity the last couple of weeks. They are a little way from my house so I don't get to see them every day. I saw some cups on the bottom of some frames but no full queen cells. I have not cut any out. I went through the hive again this afternoon a little more deliberate and still did not see a
queen or any sign. Just saw honey, nectar and pollen even in the area where brood should be. Probably enough bees to cover 2 or 3 frames. I plan to add a couple of frames of emerging brood to help them along until I can get a queen.
I had similar thing happen to a nuc this year too, it happens. I keep my bees about 2 hours from home so don't sweat not seeing them everyday. When the flow is on just tilt the top brood box and look up one and down the other real quick to look for queen cells and brood, just to make sure all is ok. I only do this if when I pop off the cover they aren't filling the inner cover hole and showing heavy population. Keep in mind your going to drop some more in numbers in that hive before new queen gets going. Good luck.
Usually when you think a hive is queenless it is not. Bees usually manage to rear a new queen and usually she is just not laying yet. However SOMETIMES they do go queenless. Since it is virtually impossible to tell a hive with a virgin from one that is queenless (virgins are small fast and shy) the simplest solution is to give them a frame of brood so IF they are queenless they have the resources to resolve the problem and if they have a virgin you won't interfere or waste your money on a queen who will only get killed.
I've had 2 established hives that came up queenless. I don't know what is happening to them but there are no signs of a queen. Has anyone else seen this happen this year?
I put a new queen in Thursday. As of Sunday morning she has not been released. How long should I wait before I start thinking I may have missed the queen. Should I go ahead and release her? Still haven't seen any sign of a queen. Don't want to lose the hive or the queen I bought. Any ideas?
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Beesource Beekeeping Forums
1.8M posts
54.7K members
Since 1999
A forum community dedicated to beekeeping, bee owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about breeding, honey production, health, behavior, hives, housing, adopting, care, classifieds, and more!