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ocba - Re: [ocba] Update on VSH Queen Problems in Carrboro

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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Starks, Walter" <Walter.Starks AT facilities.unc.edu>
  • To: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • Cc: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Update on VSH Queen Problems in Carrboro
  • Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 23:34:17 +0000

If you leave the cork in the bee cage and install it into the hive, you can check it after 3 or 4 days by just laying it on the top bars where you can watch it and see if the bees are balling up on the outside of the cage. If they are that’s bad. If they are coming up a few at a time and just feeding the queen that’s what you want to see. Then you can just pull the cork and let them free her.




This is what bad behavior looks like. There’s a queen inside that cage. I never could get these bees to accept her.


________


Walter



On Jun 16, 2014, at 5:48 PM, John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com> wrote:

> My bee supplier has been very responsive and very helpful. He is sending me a new queen. She will arrive tomorrow.
>
> He suggested that I pull a frame with eggs from my good colony and put it in the troubled colony. He said that a frame of eggs would reduce the likelihood of developing a laying worker. So I plan to do that when I open the hives tomorrow. If anyone has any counter considerations please chime in. My supplier has been very helpful and stands ready to talk me through any problems. That's the advantage of working with NC VSH bee suppliers. He is invested in my success.
>
> I will also follow Randall's advice with the new queen, testing the reaction of Hive 1 (with a viable queen) against the reaction of Hive 2 that I think lacks a queen. It's great to access to folks with experience to help us new folks think things through. Thank you, Randall.
>
> If it turns out that I have an infertile/sterile queen in Hive 2, then I have a problem that I will most likely need experienced help to address. I will have to find the "bad queen" and dispatch her before adding the new queen to the mix. So if there is an experience beekeeper who has the ability to spot queens in the Carrboro area I'd appreciate any standby assistance you can offer. I'm hoping that Hive 2 will accept a new queen w/o fuss, but it would be comforting to know that I had the OCBA heavy hitters standing in the wings.
>
> -John
>
> John Rintoul
> Mobile (919) 414-4071
> Home (919) 967-0674
>
> "The failure of one thing (is) repaired by the success of another." - Thomas Jefferson
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