[twf_]

I have dealt with bees in the past but have never used pakages until this year. I just got back into it after a few years off. I hived 2 packages on the 15 of May. One of them is doing great. When I checked the other one last weekend, about half the capped brood was drone. Thought I would give her until this weekend to see what she was going to do. When I checked on them today, it appeared they have pulled most of the brood leaving only about 70-100 capped drone cells. I didn't see any eggs and only older uncapped brood. Yes, she is a Georgia queen. Talk about a bad year weather-wise. Anyway, I wanted to hear some of your opinions on what I should do. Would I be better off to try ordering a queen and adding brood from the other colony or combine the two in hopes of possibly making a split a little later on. Maybe even move them to a 5 frame nuc and add a new queen. Thanks in advance.

 

[merdoc]

I got back in with packages this year too.I never had pacs before but I can give you this advice careful with sugar syrup dont spill and clean up good.I even wipe off hive top after changing jar on top.If ants get a taste its hard to keepem off.I want to build a stand so can put legs in water good luck to you.

 

[fish_stix]

Don't wait until you have laying workers. Kill the old queen and requeen it now. If available give them capped brood from the other hive to maintain population until you have a good queen.

 

[honeybeekeeper]

I read in a section of The Backyard Beekeeper pg#129 that says if you find a pattern like that you need to find the queen and remove her and replace her with a new queen and if there is no queen a new queen can be added. Good Luck!

You could have a laying worker colony or a drone laying queen!

 

[Mike Gillmore]

Sounds like you got a dud queen. Order another queen right away. Check with the company who you got the packages from and let them know what happened. You never know, they may replace her for you free of charge. Can't hurt to try. When she arrives find the old queen and pinch her, and then introduce the new queen in her cage the next day. Adding a frame of brood is a good idea, but make sure you don't compromise the other package by robbing much needed brood frames too early.

 

[twf_]

Thanks for the words of wisdom folks. The other hive has almost 4 full frames of brood right now, so I don't believe switching one would be a great disaster for them. I will try to get a replacement queen tomorrow. Glad I found this place a few months ago. Even someone who has been at it a while will run across a situation where this forum can be a great help. Thanks again, and merdoc, good luck keeping those ants at bay.