Looking for a queen can be frustrating.

I have looked and looked through nucs before and have not been able to fine the queen. It make me feel like a novice when that happens.

 

I think the virgins are especially tough, though. I'm reasonably good at spotting queens in my queenright nucs, but I sure didn't see much of anything that looked like a queen in my "virgin" nucs.

 

I actually watched on emerge about 2 weeks ago on the frame I was holding..she immediatly went to the back side so I flipped it over and she was gone.. I looked for her for over 10 minutes til my hands went numb and I never saw her again..

 

difficult but not impossible.

the virgins are much more nervous than a mated queenn and therefore your opportunity to visually determine her presence is reduced.

pa pete sezs:
Two "felt" queenright to me, and the third was a little discordant

tecumseh replies:
most excellent....I find a much more defined visual clue is to watch for the workers to begin polishing patchs of comb in the center of the queen mating unit. these polished area will have a low sheen and the workers will seem to enforce a no trespassing rule on these same areas.

 

I think the points that a queenright appearing hives are often just that are a good guide. I don't often look for queens once the season is reaching maturity. Polished cells in the center as opposed to cells with nectar, quite, calm acting bees, incoming pollen are all things that go on when a virgin queen is mating. It is important to check back in a week or so to see if anything has changed as queens are sometimes lost on mating flights and often killed by our un-necessary manipulations. Eventually those cells filled with eggs and larvae appear then it's time to leave them alone.

 

Virgins are very hard to find. The abdomine is not enlarged, they are the same size as the rest of the workers, they run on the comb, do not associate with the majority of the bees, will hid on the side walls, bottom, and corners.
The only difference is the size of the thorax. This is what I look for in the nucs.

 

>...is how tough?

They are small, fast, stealthy, flighty, runny and want to hide. THey will hid on the walls, the bottom and the corners. I've even seen them out on the landing board. I used to find them all the time in two frame mating nucs and it's hard with only two frames to look at. I've decided it's not worth the effort anymore. I just wait until there should be eggs and then look for them.

 

Thanks as always gang - very helpful information!