Hi Kerry,
I know this won't help the situation for the bees but if it does turn
out that they're not queen right and you end up with a hive full of only
drones, the hive will be taken over by wax moth very quickly so if you
want to rescue some of the capped honey then do it sooner rather than
later. It will happen quickly even whilst there seems to be plenty of
drones coming and going because they won't defend or clean the hive the
way the workers do, so don't wait until the bees are dead and gone
because there will be no honey left to rescue but do make sure they're
not queen right first.
BW Ann
On 29/06/2020 12:18, Kerry Dawson wrote:
Yes, you are right, another inspection only satisfies my curiosity and won’t change anything. I’ll leave alone and see what happens. Thanks for your advice.
*From:*oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *On Behalf Of *Oxnatbees
*Sent:* 29 June 2020 12:13
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Re: Queenless Hive
Kerry,
Another inspection won't solve / change anything, but it will disrupt them. Whilst we humans have "need to know " and "need to help" drives, in this case, as you cannot transfer brood, their best chance is to let them sort things out alone.
I'm not sure they will recover, but they might.
Standard advice is to open & interfere, but if a honey crop is not critical to you, you will learn more by seeing how they progress now. Fortunately, if the colony dies you have the other. I know this sounds brutal, but if you were to (say) re-queen them with a commercial queen of a different, non-local race, this colony would in effect die anyway, as its members were replaced by the new queen's children.
Paul
On Mon, 29 Jun 2020, 11:58 Kerry Dawson, <kerrydawson99@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:kerrydawson99@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi,
I am unable to transfer a frame of brood from my other hive
(Golden) as it has very large frames and they wont fit in the TBH.
Also, that colony is very defensive and I’m not keen on upsetting
them.
When the weather is a bit more settled, I’ll do another inspection
to check for eggs again. Although, there isn’t much room for a
queen to lay as the combs are full of uncapped honey. I’ll also
do a rap test later today.
Thanks for the responses, and good luck to Gary and Karen with
your colonies.
Kerry
*From:*oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> *On Behalf Of *Oxnatbees
*Sent:* 29 June 2020 08:44
*To:* oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Subject:* [oxnatbees] Re: Queenless Hive
It's odd that there are no drone larvae - no "curly pearlies" at all.
The fact they have not built more comb is not alarming. They will
have plenty of empty comb to use before they need more, because
swarms take honey with them. Bees build comb when needed, not
continuously.
I think the "cure" for drone laying workers is to transfer in a
comb of brood + eggs (not eggs alone). You should google that to
check I am right. The smell of the brood triggers their nursing
instincts. The fact that your other hive is a different type is
not a show stopper: you can simply put a frame in _at right angles
to the TBH comb_ (!) - not ideal but, crucially, a rapid transfer
which does not chill the brood. The bees will smell & cover it to
keep it warm; it should ideally be wedged upright so no larvae
fall out. Don't faff around trying to cut a frame to the right
shape/ size and tying it to a bar, you will probably just kill and
chill the brood on it in the current weather.
Paul
On Sun, 28 Jun 2020 at 22:42, Ann Welch <ann.welch123@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:ann.welch123@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Kerry, Could be that the queen didn't mate properly so has
herself become a drone layer. Usually if the workers are
laying there will be multiple eggs in cells and they're not
usually right down at the bottom but laid on the sides of the
cells. Are you sure there are no eggs visible at all?
Ann
On 28/06/2020 22:31, Kerry Dawson wrote:
Dear All,
Since swarming on 2 May and again on 8 May, I have been
observing the bees in my tbh to see if all was progressing
as it should. The remaining bees were still plentiful and
purposeful, but it seemed strange that, after several
weeks, they were not building new comb and numbers despite
the good weather and foraging activity.
A couple of days ago I decided to do a full inspection. I
found no eggs and no brood. The combs are full of nectar
and there are capped drone cells, so I think workers are
laying.
My question is what to do? Would introducing some eggs
from another hive encourage them to make a new queen, or
has too much time passed for this? Also, I can't easily
transfer brood from my other hive, as it is not a tbh.
It is very sad to watch the colony decline. Any help and
advice welcome.
Kerry
