I have been experiencing a large number of queen losses and supercedures this year. I would say close to 20-25% that I can count. Many of which are early April packages. Could it bee poorly mated queens and after the flow the workers figured that out and did away with them?
Anyone seen large queen losses/supercedures
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There could be a lot of reasons. We experienced large scale queen losses and supersedure after pesticide poisoning. So that might be a reason to consider. (In the region where 12,000 hives were poisoned with Clothianidin, a neonic, it was very difficult to raise queens in the following years. It seemed that the drones were all infertile.)
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I'm close to you, and yes. This was asked here or on a west coast beekeeping page on Facebook, and generally, Washington and some BC beekeepers, are experiencing this. Slightly less so in Oregon. I lost all four of my overwintered queens (two 2012, two 2013), and four 2014 queens purchased in April. Luckily, I've yet to lose an entire colony, but it's been a struggle. Our local bee supplier wouldn't even sell replacement queens, as the early queens from CA were so 1:bad, and 2:hard to get, that he needed all he could get for his own commercial operation.
Interestingly, it's becoming a record swarm season this year as well, locally.
Interestingly, it's becoming a record swarm season this year as well, locally.
I thought I would weigh in on this one too. I live in a pretty isolated location beewise. This year, I have lost at least four good queens that were laying like crazy. I've only had bees for a total of about five years and this was the first serious year, so I blame a lot of it to rookie mistakes. I have about 7 hives.
One or two of my losses though have been almost inexplicable. I have had a lot of queen cells, but only one queen to return mated.
Anyway, this may not help much, but I wanted to chime in. LOL
One or two of my losses though have been almost inexplicable. I have had a lot of queen cells, but only one queen to return mated.
Anyway, this may not help much, but I wanted to chime in. LOL
I have bees here in Camas and in Elmira, Oregon (about 40 hives). I raise my own queens and haven't had any problems. Queens look good and all returned from mating flights. I mark my queens and haven't seen many supercedures yet. It may be going on under my honey supers though. I do have several yellow marked queens (two year old) that they may replace though. I don't worry too much about that.
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Ditto. I've lost one of our two, and within our little group we think it is 7 of 8 California queens delivered this spring, around mid April.
Our club overall has noticed crappy queens coming out of California and from the south for several years. Part of it may be attempts to ship more queens using unskilled employees and as cheaply as possible. Some may be due to temperature extremes experienced during shipping, as described in a paper by Jeff Pettis, et al, in which the temperature extremes kill the sperm she carries.
Our club overall has noticed crappy queens coming out of California and from the south for several years. Part of it may be attempts to ship more queens using unskilled employees and as cheaply as possible. Some may be due to temperature extremes experienced during shipping, as described in a paper by Jeff Pettis, et al, in which the temperature extremes kill the sperm she carries.
I am in Vancouver, BC. I am having trouble keeping laying queens this year. I just think a hive is settled, then they supercede the Queen. This has been happening sequentially on several hives to the extent that I am concerned they won't have strength before the fall.
I've helped a friend look through their hive multiple times, and we're seeing what looks like the constant presence of supercedure cells.
It's this type of problem that contributes to the decreasing average lifespan of a Honeybee queen to 6 months.
Whatever the cause, if this keeps getting worse, then we need to make some noise about it.
It's this type of problem that contributes to the decreasing average lifespan of a Honeybee queen to 6 months.
Whatever the cause, if this keeps getting worse, then we need to make some noise about it.
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Farm raised/shipped queens are inferior. I have read 20% of packaged are supersedure within a month or two.
Info on why queens might be failing, plus lots of other stuff too.
http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...is-Beltsville-Bee-Lab-given-in-North-Carolina
Info on why queens might be failing, plus lots of other stuff too.
http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...is-Beltsville-Bee-Lab-given-in-North-Carolina
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>I am in Vancouver, BC. I am having trouble keeping laying queens this year. I just think a hive is settled, then they supercede the Queen. This has been happening sequentially on several hives to the extent that I am concerned they won't have strength before the fall.
Are you letting them raise queen or are you putting in a new queen each time?
Are you letting them raise queen or are you putting in a new queen each time?
I bought 10 packages this spring. 8 have been superceded. 2 of them I pulled when the queen. Ell was capped. The nucs they were in has struggled, so the bees knew something. The 2 survivor hives also replaced the queens early in the year. I was able to pull 6 splits off them. So I have survivor genetics in 8 nucs/ full hives ( yea!!!). Unfortunately I don't have a lot of experience with good/ bad- my guess though is the early queens package were madewhen not many drones were available anddidnt get enough boys to mate with.
I've had 50% turnover on my packages from early april. Each one doing a supercedure or in one case just dissappearing from the hive. I figure i've still got at least 3 more to deal with prior to winter since there seems to be about an 80% turnover at times on packages..
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That's the part I don't understand. I'm pretty careful during inspections, and had not rolled a queen the first two years. This year, I had three overwintered queens just die. Disappeared. Not superseded, rolled I guess, but rolling three in two weeks seems odd. The hives started emergency cells. Eight hives now, and no supersedures, just dead queens. What the ?
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I found a pretty good percentage myself. Some packages some over wintered. Some that I put queens in. Have some friends that got packages from several sources and have had the same. So not just one supplier. But, from CA.
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