Queenless Hive--- Pls help

631 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by kcarroll, 9 d ago

KriegersBees

Discussion Starter · 13 d ago

Installed a package of bees about a month ago, all was going well, they already pulled out 4 frames of brood. Did an inspection a week ago and i didnt see the queen. No big, i've heard you sometimes miss her or overlook her. But I got suspicious when I didn't see her today when i opened the hive to see if they were ready for a second box....but i saw no new eggs anywhere and not even any really young ones. A quick look turned into a thorough inspection, found 3 frames full of capped brood and plenty of food stores but i found no queen and this odd comb, it looks like queen cells but i am new to this so im not sure. Can someone please tell me if these are queen cells? and if they are will the hive be okay or will it swarm?
Thank you in advance!

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squarepeg

· #2 · 13 d ago

welcome to beesource!

yep, those are queen cells. looks like your colony wasn't happy with the queen that came with your package, so they are making a new one.

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KriegersBees

Discussion Starter · #3 · 13 d ago

Thank you! im glad to hear that they are making themselves a new queen. Hopefully the new queen will be a better match for the colony.

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Snarge

· #4 · 13 d ago

I’m going to say that she’s already left with a swarm and that those are swarm cells. Either way, add ~28 days to the date when you think those were capped. This is when you should next go in to see if there is a newly mated, and laying, queen. Hopefully, you’ll see some larvae at this point.

Some of my mentees have foundation that has been drawn-out like this; there again, it could be a bee thing. This is not ideal, but actually worked well here because it has protected your queen cells. Is your other foundation drawn this way, too, or is this the only anomaly?

Welcome to Bee Source!

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RayMarler

· #5 · 13 d ago

yes, those are queen cells and yes, wait 24-29 days to check on them again. After the new queen has some sealed brood, then go in and rub some beeswax on the plastic to get the bees to draw the combs more on the plastic. It needs a bit more beeswax on it for them to keep the new drawn comb on the plastic.

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KriegersBees

Discussion Starter · #6 · 13 d ago

Snarge said:
I’m going to say that she’s already left with a swarm and that those are swarm cells. Either way, add ~28 days to the date when you think those were capped. This is when you should next go in to see if there is a newly mated, and laying, queen. Hopefully, you’ll see some larvae at this point.

Some of my mentees have foundation that has been drawn-out like this; there again, it could be a bee thing. This is not ideal, but actually worked well here because it has protected your queen cells. Is your other foundation drawn this way, too, or is this the only anomaly?

Welcome to Bee Source!

Thank you, this is the only frame with the strange pattern on it, the other 4 frames are all drawn out nice and evenly with 5 frames just beginning to have comb drawn out.

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Western

· #7 · 12 d ago

Could have rolled the queen earlier, in any event, you have a new one on the way

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zabadoh

· #8 · 9 d ago

Package queens are often not that great quality, so emergency cells often happen soon after the hive gets some eggs and they can replace her.

As for the funky comb, often bees don't like plastic foundation because most manufacturers don't put a thick coat of wax on the sheets.

That and you're probably starting with all bare foundation, so there's too much space between bare foundation sheets, so the bees will fill in the space with whatever comb they feel like, which is why some people advise starting with synthetic comb like BetterComb, which will give their bees correct spacing to build natural built comb straight.

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kcarroll

· #9 · 9 d ago

Western said:
Could have rolled the queen earlier, in any event, you have a new one on the way

I love how the newbies always get blamed for rolling the queen. I’m sure it has nothing to do with throwing a queen in with a package that didn’t brood her. <sarcasm>

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