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Virgin Queen or Failed Queen?

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May 16, 2010
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help!
by: Rebecca

Hello again - well, here I am several weeks later and still no brood.

We opened the hive today, spotted the queen - in the same area again - strange. We looked in several frames top and bottom brood boxes - nothing still. We did see about 4 capped cells that are large enough to be queen cells and 2 that had larvae in them but not capped yet (all in the same area the queen has been hanging out).

I have some pretty clear pictures if you would like to take a look. It's been nearly 4 weeks without brood but there are lots of bees still. Any ideas about what I should do?...if anything??

Thanks again for your help!

[Hi Rebecca

Assuming the weather has been good enough for the bees to be foraging it sounds as though there's something wrong with your queen. I would try obtaining a queen from a local beekeeper, or buy one from a specialist queen breeder as soon possible.

Once you get a queen, find the existing queen and kill her, leave the hive queenless for a day or two before you introduce the new queen.

If you're able to find a swarm, you could install that in another box next to the existing hive. Find the queen in your existing colony and kill her. After a couple of days remove the lid from the hive containing the swarm and place a sheet of newspaper on top, make a few hole with a matchstick, then remove the floor of the other hive and place it on top. The two colonies, one without a queen are then just separated by the newspaper. After a few days they will have chewed through the newspaper and all be 'friends' and the remaining newspaper can be removed. If feasible you could remove any frames which don't have anything in them and put all the other frames in one box.

I'd be inbterested to see those photos if you could send them to me.

I hope that helps.

The Bee Guy]

Apr 20, 2010
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Thank you!
by: Rebecca

Thank you so much! I will take my magnifying glass out with me just to be sure about those tiny eggs! :) I'll definitely let you know what happens.

Good idea! Seeing new eggs is quite an art, they're like little white whiskers you might see if a guy with a white beard uses an electric razor.

Try turning your back to the sun so the light shines over your shoulder directly into the cells. It's easy to mistake the sun shining on the bottom of the cell for an egg, but once you're familiar with what they look like they're easier to spot.

The Bee Guy

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