[East Texas Pine Rooter]

I have a lot of bees that i got this past april without a queen in a hive. i put a new queen in a cage, hung from a wire 2-3 weeks ago. the first thing i did was that i uncorked the sugar end before i put her in the hive. i put the cage in the middle in between capped brood. i checked on her progress yesterday, the bees were nasty, flew all over my suit, one got inside my hood, and stung me on my forehead. that wasn't to bad. the queen was no where to be found, and there weren't any eggs. i had put a new foundation in the lower hive when i put the queen in and added another super. they haven't started drawing on it. i am going to order another queen next week. what can i do different? i am getting desperate.

 

[Daisy]

Assuming your colony has gone queenless, this is how they are, irritable, when they are without a queen.

Is this the only hive you have?

If you have another, get some frames from the brood area and put it in the irritable hive.

Or if you have no other hives, ask another beekeeper close to you if you can buy a couple of frames from them...

Around here, a deep frame of brood goes for about nine dollars each.. but if you swap out a couple of your own frames, maybe you could get it cheaper...

This is of course neighboring hives don't have problems that you could inherit. Virus and whathaveyu

It's always best to have at least three hives minimum....

 

[East Texas Pine Rooter]

i have capped brood, and some are uncapped white larva, the uncapped visible larva is just white, but i can see the shape of the bee. i'm doing my best to try to get 3-hives. this trial and error learning is what i've done all my adult life. i have always been successful, but this bee bussiness is going to be fun, when i get it down, i just ordered a new queen this sunday morning for my 1-strong hive.

 

[Axtmann]

>>>>>>>i just ordered a new queen this sunday morning for my 1-strong hive.<<<<

You have a strong hive so why do you need a new queen? When putting a new queen in a colony you must be sure the colony NEED a queen.

1. Inspect the hive for the old queen. If you can’t find her but you find EGGS in the hive, there is a queen.
2. To find the queen put one or two empty combs in the hive and mark them with a pin. On the second day the queen should be on the combs and lying, if not, don’t put a new queen in.
3. When you removed the old queen wait 3 to 4 hours before putting the new lady in.
4. Now go the save way and put the queen in a cage with a cork. Mount the cage in the middle on a frame with an approx 12mm / ½ inch foundation strip beside the cage. Inspect after 3 days and if the bees accept the new queen you will find new combs beside the cage.
5. If there are new build combs remove the cork and put a candy in the whole, your bees will do the rest. If there are NO COMBS started there is something wrong and if you open the cage your queen is in danger (might be an other queen).

 

[Michael Bush]

>I have a lot of bees that i got this past april without a queen in a hive.

You think they have been queenlees since April? Since when?

>i put a new queen in a cage, hung from a wire 2-3 weeks ago....i checked on her progress yesterday, the bees were nasty, flew all over my suit, one got inside my hood, and stung me on my forehead. that wasn't to bad. the queen was no where to be found, and there weren't any eggs.

Have you seen eggs before? Is there any open brood? Is there any worker brood?

>i am going to order another queen next week. what can i do different? i am getting desperate.

Assuming that they are indeed queenless and that they have been queenless for some time, I would expect to see multiple eggs from a laying worker by now.

I would be tempted to pull a couple of frames of bees and put them in a nuc overnight and then introduce the queen to the nuc. A push in cage seems to be about the most foolproof. You can make one from #8 hardware cloth or buy a plastic one from Betterbee. You can put the queen in the push in cage and she can be fed through the cage by the workers and she can lay in the combs. When she's laying and they are feeding her, you can pull the cage. If you put the nuc on a double screen board over the main hive for a couple of days so they can get used to each other's smell and then do a newspaper combine they will be most likely to accept the new queen.

I'm assuming, in all of this, that this is your only hive. Do you have more hives?

 

[East Texas Pine Rooter]

1.This is my only hive. 2.I don't know the difference between worker brood, and open brood. 3. I haven't seen any eggs since the last of april. 4. how do you build a push in cage, and how does it work? i looked at better bee, and didn't see a push in cage, but i have never seen one either. 5. i have seen eggs before, all my open cells have nectar in them. the uncapped brood? is getting less. should i start feeding them? i sure wished i had a beekeeping friend.

 

[bjerm2]

Looks like your getting desperate. Take a deep breath. Now open brood is just eggs and larva, sealed brood has brown caps. Now if you go to Glenn Apiaries Webb site they have a section there on the push in cage. I like doing that since the queens are excepted easily. The cage is just about 3 inches square, then you go in about 3 - 4 spaces (1/8-1/4 inches) in from the edge. Make that cut on four corners then fold the edges over to make a cage that you can imbed into the foundation with the queen inside. Find a place on the comb where there is some open cells and some honey. Push the cage in with the queen and do not let any workers in. Leave her alone for about 5 days and then take a look. If the bees are NOT BITING the cage it is ok to let her go. Quietly lift up the cage and slowly put the frame back. Leave them alone for about 3 weeks. Good luck.
Dan

 

[Dee]

go to a couple of websites or look on google images for some pictures of brood.
one site that has an encyclopedia is http://www.beecare.com/indexDynFrames.htm?http://www.beecare.com/Navigation/SideNavFrame.htm&0
look up words like drones, drone cells, open brood, sealed brood, larvae, eggs; hopefully some of the pictures will help you, also you should get on the chat line here at beesource you would (hopefully) get some quick answers rather than waiting for a reply, there is usually someone on, incase you dont know how to get there here's the link http://www.bee-l.com/beesourcechat.htm

 

[East Texas Pine Rooter]

Dee: Thank you so much for the BeeCare web site. I found out for sure that i no absolutely nothing about beekeeping. There must be a queen to have uncapped larva. i have a new queen being shipped. i'm going to use the #8 wire cage to insert her on the brood comb until i can do away with the existing queen. I have a lot of studying to do now. Thanks again.

 

[East Texas Pine Rooter]

I addressed my last reply to Dee for the Beecare website. what i should have said was, to thank each of you for your replies and help in making this a succesful venture for me, and all new beekepers. without this website, it sure would be hard starting out alone with all the problems our bees are having.

 

[bjerm2]

East Texas Pine Rooter, don't forget to get a hold of the old queen first. If they are a nasty bunch then get rid of her a day or two before you put the new queen in (that really is a common pratice anyway). That way they are going to accept her easyer. Keep her caged up for at least 5 days. Good luck and have a great time with the little girls. Note: it will take about 3 weeks for the temperment to calm down. This is the time it takes for the new queens group to start taking over the hive.
Dan