[mruser]

Hi
I recently did a hive split Everything seemed to be go normal from what I can tell, but this was my first split. I waited a couple days then added a new mated queen to the hive. When adding her the other bees seemed curious but there was no aggressiveness towards her. So I decided to pull the cork on her cage and left them alone for 5 days. Upon returning I was not able to locate her but the bees seemed to be very calm as I looked through the hive. Not sure if I'm looking over her or not but is there an easy way of telling if she there with out seeing her? Trying to keep an eye out for new brood. Would appreciate any info anyone has.

 

[Beelosopher]

was your queen mated when you put her in or a virgin?

easiest way to tell if a queen is present is to look for new eggs. Easiest way to confirm you don't have a drone layer, look for newly capped brood.

 

[mruser]

I believed when I picked her up They said she was mated.

I'm trying to keep an eye on the brood but not sure how to tell if there is new capped brood or existing brood? Just trying to remember the amount

 

[Beelosopher]

I believed when I picked her up They said she was mated.

I'm trying to keep an eye on the brood but not sure how to tell if there is new capped brood or existing brood? Just trying to remember the amount

look for larva in all stages (uncapped) and once you see capped larva that is brood and not drone, you will be certain you have a laying queen. all cells are capped on the 8th day. i.e. you should have some plump nearly ready to be capped larva if your newly mated queen started laying right away. However none of that capped brood is hers right now if she has only been introduced 5 days ago. At this point your best clue is the presence of eggs and larva that is uncapped

 

[mruser]

look for larva in all stages (uncapped) and once you see capped larva that is brood and not drone, you will be certain you have a laying queen. all cells are capped on the 8th day. i.e. you should have some plump nearly ready to be capped larva if your newly mated queen started laying right away. However none of that capped brood is hers right now if she has only been introduced 5 days ago. At this point your best clue is the presence of eggs and larva that is uncapped

so upon inspection today I did not see the queen,new brood or eggs. but it does look like the brood that i had placed in the hive is hatching and worker bees are flying into the hive. I am not sure what to do at this point. leave it be and see if they produce their own queen or try and introduce another queen?

here are a few pictures of the hive.
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee.jpg.html
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee4.jpg.html
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee6.jpg.html
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee1.jpg.html
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee5.jpg.html
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee3.jpg.html
http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/bee2.jpg.html

 

[drlonzo]

Go to a good hive with a very productive queen. Take one of the empty frames from this hive and insert it into the brood nest. Wait 3 days and remove it. If you can afford the bees that cling to the frame take them as well as the frame and reinsert it into this hive. Wait 6 days and check to see if you have emergency queen cells. With NO eggs/larva/new capped brood you are sure to either have NO queen, or a bad one. If she is in there when you bring the frame back into this hive, be sure to remove the OLD queen from the NON productive hive.

 

[GLOCK]

Your sure there's no eggs in that comb?
Can you see eggs?

Any way if you have other hives just give the hive some eggs they will do the rest.

 

[drlonzo]

I see lots of em myself. Looks just like the ones in my hives.. Beautiful !

 

[JRG13]

Did you remove any queencells? The first link shows some queencells on the bottom of the frames, one looks hatched.

 

[mruser]

When I first added the frames there was no queen cells.

 

[mruser]

When I first added the frames there was no queen cells.[/QUOTE

this is another queen cell but this one was empty the ones on the bottom were capped well i accadently pulled off the top of one.

http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/queencell.jpg.html

 

[mruser]

the picture you posted makes me want to open my hive back up in a couple of day and double check to make sure what i thought was honey comb is not eggs.


pics from earlier

 

[Beelosopher]

It is hard to tell because I can't see into your cells completely. However it looks like there are no eggs in the pictures you posted, I only see a glint in the nectar. I think that your queen was superceded/killed based on the presence of the capped queen cells you said you have )especially since they were capped - I didn't see they were capped but you said they were). If they are capped, I would leave them alone and mark the date you saw them.

If the queen cells you saw are capped, I would check the hive in 2 weeks. That would allow for 8 days for the queen to emerge, and at least 6 days for a mating flight. Since you don't know when they were capped, you might be a few days off, but either way in two weeks you should be able to tell if you have a new laying queen. By the presence of eggs.

Like some others said, you can donate a frame with eggs (once a week for the next three weeks) to give them a chance to raise a new queen if they don't have one now. If you have capped queen cells, that would not be necessary though.

 

[mruser]

Thanks for the info. I guess I will have to double check to make sure there is queen cells that are capped and do as you say. Then if not I will have to take some brood from the other colony and see if they can make their own.

 

[Michael Bush]

Just for reference sake, I would not release a new queen being introduced to an established hive sooner than four days or sooner than they eat the candy out of the candy cage, no matter how calm the bees seem. I've seen too many balled queens.

 

[mruser]

Oh I didn't release her out of the cage right away. I waited two days then stuck her on top of the hive to get a reaction. Then I pulled the cork on the candy side and slid her between the frames. Checked 5 days later

 

[DaveHeadCA]

It is hard to tell because I can't see into your cells completely. However it looks like there are no eggs in the pictures you posted, I only see a glint in the nectar. I think that your queen was superceded/killed based on the presence of the capped queen cells you said you have )especially since they were capped - I didn't see they were capped but you said they were). If they are capped, I would leave them alone and mark the date you saw them.

If the queen cells you saw are capped, I would check the hive in 2 weeks. That would allow for 8 days for the queen to emerge, and at least 6 days for a mating flight. Since you don't know when they were capped, you might be a few days off, but either way in two weeks you should be able to tell if you have a new laying queen. By the presence of eggs.

Like some others said, you can donate a frame with eggs (once a week for the next three weeks) to give them a chance to raise a new queen if they don't have one now. If you have capped queen cells, that would not be necessary though.

Thanks for the info. What exactly do you mean by a "Mating flight"? I'm also a newbee.. Actually I'm sitting here next to "MRUSER"... Newbees times 2.

-Dave

 

[DaveHeadCA]

You did it all wrong. Awful really... You are a queen killer. So sad... Just kidding buddy... This stuff is more tricky than I ever imagined. Keep up the good work on your researching!

 

[mruser]

It is hard to tell because I can't see into your cells completely. However it looks like there are no eggs in the pictures you posted, I only see a glint in the nectar. I think that your queen was superceded/killed based on the presence of the capped queen cells you said you have )especially since they were capped - I didn't see they were capped but you said they were). If they are capped, I would leave them alone and mark the date you saw them.

If the queen cells you saw are capped, I would check the hive in 2 weeks. That would allow for 8 days for the queen to emerge, and at least 6 days for a mating flight. Since you don't know when they were capped, you might be a few days off, but either way in two weeks you should be able to tell if you have a new laying queen. By the presence of eggs.

Like some others said, you can donate a frame with eggs (once a week for the next three weeks) to give them a chance to raise a new queen if they don't have one now. If you have capped queen cells, that would not be necessary though.

i found her thanks for the help I learned a lot about these bees after doing the split.

http://s2.photobucket.com/user/mruser/media/DSCF2109.jpg.html