Randall, Thanks for the advice. It sounds like a good approach. At this point I'm hoping that Hive 2 doesn't have a queen because it will make requeening easier. It sounds like the odds of no queen are in my favor. If there is a queen in there I would have to find and destroy her before adding the new queen. A challenge for a new beekeeper.
I considered the possibility that a new queen had recently emerged, but there are no queen cells.
Yes, I have been feeding sugar syrup. Hive 1 has made good use of it drawing out considerable new comb. Hive 2 has only drawn a bit of comb and seem to be filling the original nuc comb with the syrup. I doubt that they are find that much nectar in the wilderness.
-John John Rintoul Home (919) 967-0674
John,
Carrboro is a bit far from me but there are lots of folks in the
area who may be able to give you a hands-on assessment.
Regarding a couple of your questions:
"I am worried that I may currently have a sterile queen and that
the colony won't accept a new queen until the old one is gone." --
You are very right to be concerned about a lurking queen. It is
virgins and recently-mated queens that cause issues for impatient
beekeepers. An unmated queen however will still lay eggs; they'll
just all turn out to be drones. From your description, it is
likely that Hive 2 doesn't have a queen at all.
Since you've been offered a free queen, if I were you, I'd put her
in the hive in her cage, but don't expose the candy end of the
cage. If the bees cluster tightly on the cage in large numbers and
are difficult to brush off, that's a sign that they are trying to
kill her, not love her. That's an indication that there is a
lurking queen already in the hive, probably a recently-mated one
which hasn't yet had time to start laying (although that shouldn't
be the case with a nuc).
If the bees are a bit interested in the caged queen but not in a
mob way, then remove the cork on the candy end and let them
slow-release her.
If you aren't sure whether they are loving versus murderous, you
could briefly lay the caged queen on the top bars of the hive you
know has a queen and watch the reaction. That's what you don't
want to see in the other hive.
I assume you are feeding both hives liberally with 50-50 sugar
syrup? The main nectar flow is winding down quickly, so even the
best hive isn't going to draw out comb now unless it is being fed
sugar syrup.
Randall
On 6/14/2014 2:28 PM, John Rintoul wrote:
9114505B-7735-4EA3-BC5D-1BFDEEC2ED25 AT icloud.com" type="cite">
I would like
some advice and possibly a more experienced set of eyes to look
over my hives. I am a new beekeeper. I set up 2 hives two weeks
ago with 5 frame nucs of VSH bees. Hive 1 seems to be doing OK.
When I checked them last week with the assistance of a friend,
who is in his second season of beekeeping, we saw foundation
being drawn, some larvae, some stores, and some capped brood. We
did not see the queen. This week when I inspected the hive there
was more of the same, honey capped off, and many more bees so
things seem to be progressing.
Hive 2 was
another matter. Last week Hive 2 had significantly more bees
than Hive 1, but no eggs, no larvae, and no brood. Again we did
not see the queen. This week Hive 2 had only drawn out one side
of one frame of foundation. There were still no eggs, no capped
brood, only two cells of uncapped brood. Some honey had been
capped. Still lots of bees, but no sign of a queen.
Hive 2 would
appear to need a queen. Last week when I told my supplier what
the first week's inspection showed he said he would send me a
queen if this week's inspection still didn't show signs of eggs
or brood. So getting a new queen won't be a problem. But I am
worried that I may currently have a sterile queen and that the
colony won't accept a new queen until the old one is gone. How
do I make sure that the old one is gone? I have only been able
to spot a queen once in my short beekeeping career. I could very
easily be missing this one.
If there is
an experienced beekeeper close to Carrboro who could take a look
through my hive I'd appreciate it. I'd hate to install a new
queen only to have her mauled by the colony. If the hive is
queenless then I assume the standard queen-in-a-cage released
over a couple of days is the best approach to re-queening.
Any advice,
assistance, etc. from the bee community would be appreciated.
-John
John
Rintoul
(919) 967-0674 (H)
(919) 414-4071 (M)
No trees were killed in the distribution of
this message, but countless electrons were seriously
inconvenienced.
_________________________________________
ocba mailing list | North Carolina Beekeeping| http://www.theocba.org/
Manage Your Subscription: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ocba/
|