Newbee completed first hive inspection - help appreciated

1865 Views 14 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Texcajun, Jun 3, 2014

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · Jun 1, 2014

6

I installed two packages May 16 and check them the following week and both queens were released. Hive number 2 has never seen as active as hive #1 and also there always appears to be a few more dead bees in front of hive number 2. So i did my first true inspection today and hive 1 looks good to me as shown in picture below. Hive two obviously has less bees then hive number 1 and also as seen in the picture no capped brood is to be found. I do see what appears to be three hatched queen cells if I am no mistaken? I am new at this but I think I found the queen in hive 2 and she is unmark which would support the hatched queen cell? Since I have only had the packages in two weeks I have been using a top feeder with 1:1 solution and honeybee healthy. I have changed out the solution every week and although I was told honey bee healthy would prevent the solution from going bad I found out today that is not true and also ants have figured out I have the feeder as well so I took off the feeders for both hives.

I would appreciate feedback on the direction I should head now...being new I do not want to mess this up. My thoughts for the second hive is to let the new queen have time to mate and lay eggs versus immediately requeening? Is that what you would do.
Secondly I was going to move one frame of brood from hive 1 to 2 next weekend.

Lastly am I ok not feeding hive 2 any more? Feel good about one and this week we just got over 6 inches of rain so we are out of any pre-drought conditions.

Thanks for your input.

Hive 1:

Bee Honeycomb Insect Honeybee Beehive

Bee Insect Honeybee Honeycomb Beehive

Hive 2:

Honeycomb Bee Insect Beehive Honeybee

Beehive Bee Honeycomb Insect Pattern

Honeycomb Bee Beehive Honeybee Insect

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1 - 15 of 15 Posts

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jun 1, 2014

I could be wrong but I think the new queen is in the center of the second picture for hive two. One other thing that was odd with hive two is after one week when I took the queen box out of both hives and installed the additional frame hive 2's bees made no comb in the empy space whereas hive 1 made a lot.

Colobee

· #3 · Jun 1, 2014

Texcajun said:
My thoughts for the second hive is to let the new queen have time to mate and lay eggs versus immediately requeening? Is that what you would do.
Secondly I was going to move one frame of brood from hive 1 to 2 next weekend.

Lastly am I ok not feeding hive 2 any more? Feel good about one and this week we just got over 6 inches of rain so we are out of any pre-drought conditions.Thanks for your input.

1st - yes, 2nd - yes, 3rd - probably, depends, mine are still getting 1 qt a week as they are drawing out some new frames.

KbeeG

· #4 · Jun 1, 2014

The Bee Math doesn't add up. If eggs were laid the same day you did the install. The New Queen would emerge in 16 days (+-1 day) May 31 - June 1. Worker brood 20 days (+-1 day) June 3 - June 4. It has not been 20 days since the install and you do not have any capped brood. Plus you did not say if you direct released the Queens or let the bees eat through the candy. That would push back any egg laying if the bees released the queen. And the Queen Cells would be further behind in development.

If you are giving them a frame of brood and eggs do it sooner rather than later.

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 1, 2014

Both hives were installed on the 16th. I did not do a direct release. Hive 1 has capped brood but 2 does not unless I am missing something.

So what do you think is going on then?

Thanks!

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 1, 2014

And on pic 1 for hive 2 are those white cells that hatched not queen cells? If not what are they?

Thanks

KbeeG

· #7 · Jun 1, 2014

You had a marked queen in each cage. Hive number two no longer has a marked queen. If the bees released her it is unlikely they balled her. My guess is she was a virgin queen and was lost while mating. The wax bumps do look like queen cups and they are in the middle of the frame. Fully drawn queen cells would be longer. Doesn't look like your released queen laid any eggs. Though they do have pollen stores and nectar.

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 1, 2014

Thanks...so are you saying that I should requeen?

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 1, 2014

Just thought of this my queen was clipped.

KbeeG

· #10 · Jun 1, 2014

Can you get a queen? The frame of eggs would give them something to work with to make a queen. There are limits to how long the package bees will be able to live and work.

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jun 2, 2014

I am confused on this because I thought I saw a new queen. And my path forward.

mrobinson

· #12 · Jun 2, 2014

Hive-2 shows obvious signs of sugar-feeding ... they've put the stuff into cells but haven't sealed it in. It does not show signs of healthy brood production as does the first. It is reasonable to assume that the white things in the first picture are queen cells, but it is uncertain at this point whether the workers will survive long enough to raise them. C'est la guerre.

Perhaps the best thing to do in the short run is to continue to observe. You don't have anything but packages running at this point, and they're not yet old enough to be self-sustaining. So, you can't do a lot. Let nature continue to take her course with regard to the second hive and hope for the best. Bees are very resilient creatures.

Ross

· #13 · Jun 2, 2014 (Edited)

It's entirely possible that there was a virgin shaken in with the bees. If that was the case, they may have killed the marked queen and kept the virgin. If she is now mated, she may start laying in a few days or a week. If you can spare a frame with some eggs from the other hive, you can see if they start queen cells. If they don't they probably have a queen that hasn't started laying yet.

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 2, 2014

Thanks. I will move a frame over to the hive.......

Texcajun

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jun 3, 2014

Thanks all for your help. Did another inspection today and what I thought were queen cells were actually built over nector and not eggs so it looks like I probably was queenless for the get-go. I added a frame of capped and uncapped brood and am looking to get a new queen......

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