[mbee]

I am a beginner, started a hive on May 17th with a marked queen (bright green on her back), the bees freed her on May 20th, there was a swarm that afternoon and I have not been able to find a marked queen or any for that matter, although the hive did fill out 3 frames of comb and I did find a few larvae since then. It seems to me that it is mostly if not all drone comb and is scattered randomly throughout. Not sure what to do, get a new queen, start over? It has been about six weeks and the hive does not look any bigger. I am new to this and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, I took some pics of the frames but I am getting an error message when I try to attach them.

Mike

note: I have the bees in a 10 frame hive with 10 frames in the bottom with an empty hive box on top with a mason jar feeder in it (sugar/water 1:1 ratio).

 

[mjfranks]

Mike, it unfortunately sounds like you are left with a laying worker and no way for your bees to produce a new queen. To make matters worse, your bees are getting a bit "long in the tooth" and may not survive long enough to raise a cycle of brood with a new queen. The best solution that I could suggest would be to obtain a few frames of brood and nurse bees from another colony and add it to yours. Perhaps some others will chime in with some ideas.

You should also re-post this on the Bee Forum instead of the welcome forum in order to receive the attention of the general forum members.

 

[mbee]

Thanks mike, I'm sure you are right, I'll try to find someone local that may have some brood comb.

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Welcome Mike!