Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

person_county_beekeepers_association - Re: [PCBA] Queenless

person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: James Latimer <pipesnc AT live.com>
  • To: "person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org" <person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [PCBA] Queenless
  • Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2015 10:50:10 -0400

Frank,
I have been keeping bees for 1 year, so take that into consideration with my response.  I have 2 hives, 1 hive superseded the queen in late July; the other I re-queened in August for temperament control (with success I might add). 

First, Are you sure it is the queen?  Can you post a picture?
You do not need to see the queen in the hive to know she is still present in the hive.  Anytime I think I have done something to kill a queen, I don't panic and continue as if she is still there.  Then I check the hive in 3-4 days and check for any larvae; If there is larvae there is a queen.  If something has happened to the queen and I do not see larvae; I inspect the frames for supersedure cells.  This may be more obvious 5-7 days after something has happened to the queen;  the bees may not start raising a queen until they know for sure the queen is gone.  At this point, if you see larvae your fine;  if you see supersedure cells, the bees are already taking care of it.

If no larvae or supersedure cells are found, you are truly queenless and it is time to take action.  If you have another hive(s) in your apiary you can take a frame with the most recently laid eggs and place that frame in the queenless hive.  You may want to consider the traits you want to propagate into this hive, this is the time to do it.  At this point the bees should start to create a supersedure cell from the fresh eggs.  If an additional hive is not available, it is time to acquire and introduce a new queen.

Hope this helps.  If any anyone has additional information or corrections please chime in.
Thanks,
Jamie


Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2015 19:44:26 +0000
To: person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [PCBA] Queenless
From: person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org

HI Folks
I was working in the yard this afternoon and as I passed by my hives on the way to dump some leaves I noticed one of my bees dragging what I assumed was a dead bee out the hive entrance. A short time later I noticed a small clump outside on the front face of my hive stand. When I stopped for a closer look I noticed that It was the queen and she appeared to be dead with her wings fully extended at her sides. I left them alone but when I noticed that the group had dispersed about an hour later I decided to approach the hive and take a look. By this time she was laying on the ground in front of the hive and is definitely dead. The last time I was in the Hive was April 1st which was 5 days after I had installed the packages. At that time she had left the queen cage and was in the middle of a middle frame and seemed to be doing fine. What should I do now? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Frank


_______________________________________________ Person_County_Beekeepers_Association mailing list Person_County_Beekeepers_Association AT lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/person_county_beekeepers_association


  • [PCBA] Queenless, Danielle Hayward, 04/05/2015
    • Re: [PCBA] Queenless, James Latimer, 04/06/2015

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page