need some advice

[Archie]

on may 23 of this year I installed a 5 frame nuc of Carniolan bees in a deep super.  there was a lot of brood and one full frame of honey.  over the weeks I felt that the queen was not preforming as I could not find any new brood.  last monday I took another inspection and found the bottom brood chamber full of honey and they had not even started on the upper honey box and there was no brood.  I did find a queen cell about a third of the way up one of the frames but she had already hatched.  But I still could not find her.

these bees have been very active and are bringing in a lot of pollen and making a lot of honey.  I have been feeding them 1:1 sugar syrup all along.

I thought if there were no queen, the bees would not do much in honey production and would just hang around the hive.  this is not the case here.

So what are your thoughts?

thanks

Archie      

[beemaster]

Archie:

Sounds like you need a queen, I wouldn't bet on the one that PROBABLY HATCHED - if you still aren't seeing eggs or larva - I'd be calling someone or somewhere to get a queen in that hive.

Having NEVER seen brood but seeing a queen cell deconstructed, I'd serious wonder what is happening - but it doesn't seem that it would be too tough to find a queen if she WAS in there. Literally take that hive apart one frame at a time, search it all closely looking for her and brood - drone eggs ould be a bummer, but I don't know if you are talking laying worker, sounds like you might be stuck with a lame queen or no queen - either way, you need a healthy queen to give that hive a booster shot.

I agree, active hives almost always mean that a PHEROMONE SCENT is present i the hive - even a weak one is better than none at all. Having lots of honey is great, but your bees are getting old and their production will start to slow as the average age of your workers enter their golden years.

Is there anything else you can tell us?

[mark]

archie

     iirc the carniolin queen i had in a hive ran and hid a lot so look real good.  i believe also with a heavy flow workers will suppress a queens laying to use the space for necter.  when that happens she loses weight and size so again i say,  look real good.  if she is newly hatched and she was on a mating flight when you looked before thy will consider themselves to be ok and resist requeening.  was this a purchased nuc or started from a package. if purchased, did you EVER see a queen?

[Finman]

If you have another colony, you can take a frame of larvas, and they will start queen raising, if they do not have the one.

Bees are eager to swarm, if nest is full of honey. Small nest are in this danger and you loose all season very easily.

One empty box under the full, and that is solution.

[Archie]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the advice.  it was truly needed.  I went to my bee supply store and purchased a new carniolan queen yesterday and put her into the hive an hour later.  today the hive seemed to have an increase in flight activity.

As soon as she is out of the cage, I will reverse the two deep hive bodies putting the brood chamber on the bottom and the honey on top.

Thanks again for all the help

Archie

[Anonymous]

Hi Archie,

I don’t know if your queen supplier told you or you already know but it is very important that you allow your queen settling time otherwise the workers will kill the queen. About ten to fourteen days is enough. I have lost quite a few queens by being to eager!



Cheers



Mark