Dead queen on top of pollen trap

[tig]

while doing an inspection on one site, i had the pollen traps closed so i could gather some pollen to sell.  we closed the traps around 8 am and several hours later, almost lunchtime, i got to one box and once we popped over the cover the bees were agitated.  i got the feeling it was queenless from the way they were acting.  we went thru each and every frame and couldn't find the queen [ she's a marked queen] although we saw eggs.

as we were reinspecting the frames in case we overlooked the queen, my assistant called my attention to the pollen trap.  the queen was there with no bees accompanying her.  she was on her side and was jerking and twicthing....taking her last breath.  it was really wierd because she was right on the top of the trap, dead center and she was dying!

i have no idea how she got there, how she got out thru the trap and why she was dying!  has anyone had a similar experience?

[TwT]

my guest is it sounds like she was hurt when pulling frames out doing inspection, it happens!!! that would explain her being outside on top of the pollen trap..... its bad when inspecting hives and pulling frames the queen being on the end of a frame and if it is not pulled out evenly she can be hurt or killed by being crushed against the side of the hive.....

[Cindi]

Tig, awe, that is too bad.  I think that Ted has it bang on though.   If you saw her twitching, that would mean to me that she had only been hurt moments before, and yes, she would have fallen off the frame onto the pollen trap top, sorry to hear this.  If you saw eggs, that is good, the bees will raise another queen shortly.  YOu will be behind a month now until the new queen is laying, or you could purchase a new queen and introduce her, or combine this colony with another weaker colony.  Sorry.  Have a great day, regardless, Cindi