[justbee]

It has been 9 days since we installed our package. I checked them on day four and the queen did escape. The bees were making comb and I thought I saw a cell partially filled with honey but I did not see the queen or any eggs. A large number of bees were feeding on the top feeder at that time.

Today, Day nine, I checked the top feeder and there were no bees feeding. There were a few bees on one of the frames and they did not seem to even be producing comb.

What happened?

Should I close up the hive and wait for next year? Or let the few bees continue in case I missed the queen?

No matter what has happened I want to continue next year.

Help.

Linda

 

[tecumseh]

What happened?

tecumseh thinks good question, but I would make the call that I do not have enough information at this time. was the installed package taking feed and if yes, how much? only young bees make wax and it takes pretty significant number to pull foundation (if that is what you are using?),

whether the unit is salvagable would depend on how many bees and if a queen is still present, but your description does not sound positive.

 

[Tom Chaudoir]

Hi Linda,

Your posting sounds almost exactly like mine from a few days ago. Click here to see posting. Because of the nice folks here I was able to back away from the panic button. I'm going to force myself not to look until the 2 week mark. (Well, maybe 13 days. Close enough.)

Hang in there. Watch 'em fly.

Late edit. Forgot about the not pulling comb bit. That's unlike mine so I can't say. Still, I'd give them a few days.

[ April 17, 2006, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: Tom Chaudoir ]