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  • From: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • To: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: "ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Working from VSH nucs
  • Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 07:57:28 -0400

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
Mobile (919) 414-4071 
Home (919) 967-0674


On Jun 14, 2014, at 8:37 PM, Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

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)

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