Ladies and Gentlemen, first a quick hello from a longtime lurker - first time poster.
I have a hive that came out of the winter queenless. I immediately gave it some frames of open brood whilst I ordered a queen. That queen I installed with a push in cage and released her a week later. Sure enough I found her dead the next day. I did this two times with queens I ordered.
Since then I have been giving them a frame a week of open brood including eggs with the hope they would make their own. No dice. I even gave them two queen cells which they destroyed. Later l gave them a frame with a queen cell on it which they tore out from the side.
They act queen right when I know they are queenless. There isn't a single egg in the hive that I didn't give them so I know there isn't a laying worker. Has anyone seen this behaviour before and does anyone have any suggestions? It's getting costly trying to requeen.
Cheers, Toby
I have a hive that came out of the winter queenless. I immediately gave it some frames of open brood whilst I ordered a queen. That queen I installed with a push in cage and released her a week later. Sure enough I found her dead the next day. I did this two times with queens I ordered.
Since then I have been giving them a frame a week of open brood including eggs with the hope they would make their own. No dice. I even gave them two queen cells which they destroyed. Later l gave them a frame with a queen cell on it which they tore out from the side.
They act queen right when I know they are queenless. There isn't a single egg in the hive that I didn't give them so I know there isn't a laying worker. Has anyone seen this behaviour before and does anyone have any suggestions? It's getting costly trying to requeen.
Cheers, Toby