Mites

by Corinne
(Chesterfield MO USA)

I purchased a nuc, and they kicked the first queen out and I replaced her. They filled out the first hive body and so I added the second one and have been checking it. They have drawn out 3 of the frames, but I found some drone cells that are capped, and when checking them again, I don't see the queen and I opened some of the drone cells and found mites.

I have screen bottom boards and so I did the powdered sugar sprinkle on them and put a board under the hive with shortening on it and saw more mites. I will be going out again today to add more powdered sugar and check them again. My question would be should I just let them try and produce another queen or should I put some capped brood from another hive into this one?

Thanks so much for you help.

Corinne

Hi Corinne

It sounds as though you've got things pretty much under control. If you're concerned this colony is queenless it might be a good idea to put in a frame of eggs, not brood, from another hive if they don't have any. This will enable them to raise a queen of they really have lost theirs.

Are you sure they don't have a queen? Newer beekeepers often worry when they can't find the queen. Frankly I often don't even bother looking. If you can see fresh eggs, or at least young larvae, you know the queen was there within the past few days. That's good enough for me. If you see multiple eggs in one cell that means you have a bigger problem, laying workers. If that happens re-queening isn't enough, they probably won't accept a new queen without some special attention.

Good luck!

The Bee Guy