Dee,
You wrote:
Drones do not carry queens away, worker bee maybe doing housecleaning, but not drones.
You say you have had good brood, honey and pollen stores, and syrup.
Now concerning your queens. Are you buying them and introducing them when you lose them? Or do you have laying queens and then they just up and vanish and you lose them?
Also, what type treatments are you using?
Reply:
Hive1=H1, Hive2=H2
H1-He was large eyed (drone) in my face. So I know what he was, and she was longer abdomined than the drone. Off to the wind!
The queen was introduced after the first feral queen absconded last year. She was a Buckfast I purchased last June from Draper's, clipped, marked(1st year). Now gone.
H2- (3 weeks old) bought from Honeybee genetics (SMR,clip,mark) + 3 lb.s.
I gave her two frames from the first hive to feed and increase brood area quickly+syrup. She is gone also.
I ordered two more SMR's from Honeybee Genetics tootsweet. They arived mon. this week. H2 accepted her on arrival. H1 either killed her in the cage, or what.(two weeks no queen now, torn all queen cells in anticipation of new queen bought)
The only med./chem they are having are fumidl in the first qt. of feeding then "au natural" from there(hive 2). Hive one has been fed 5 weeks prior fumidl. No sign of moths, varroa in drone brood, or sign in front of hives. I use FGM on frames with beekeepers sugar/pollen substitute. Everyone is fed in my hives
I have built three NUCs, purchased a Jenter kit from Mannlake to build my own queens from H2s queen......if and when she produces the first brood......if she stays.
Help!