Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: Ziffa on March 24, 2014, 04:40:23 pm
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So - on Saturday we went to our one and only bee client. She is a lady who loves having a hive in her yard, but doesn't really care to work it. So we come in and do the managing and she pays us a bit.
We went Saturday to check it and I believe it had already swarmed. 6-8 queen cells, brown caps and no larva or eggs that I could see. Great bees, we dug through the whole thing and i even cut out some wonky comb gloveless and nary a sting. They were packed.
so we made a split with 2 of the cells. One of them had been damaged when removing burr comb. I went ahead and finished opening it, being curious, and the queen walked out. She looked fully formed and walked around. I put her in the nuc. It still had a capped cell, so I figure if she's defective the other will hatch and kill her.
There was one cell that also came off of a wonky piece of comb that I removed. We brought it home with us and I pulled some frames of capped brood, and 2 frames of nectar from one of my really strong hives and put them in a nuc. squished the bit of wax the cell was hanging from into some of the wax on the frame so it is hanging in the right direction, put some feed on them and closed them up. I have no idea if this would work, but figured I could always throw the bees back in if it doesn't.
I looked today. She hasn't hatched yet and the bees are all covering the cell a little agitated. Other than that they are taking the food and are pretty calm.
What do you think? There are a zillion things running through my head - she died in transport, she got hurt/marred in transport, they will kill her cuz she doesn't belong. Not to mention it is going to be cold tonite.
Anyway, this is purely a let's see what will happen experiment. I'm sure you old timers know the answer already - what is it??
It was an awesome, fun day and I was in the hives the whole day and didn't get stung once.
I LOVE SPRING!
love,
ziffa
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Ziffa, don't confuse excitement with agitation, if they were actually agitated would suspect that you would've found out about it pretty quick
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I think you goofed. I think now you have another hive to explain to your neighbors and another super to have to harvest in July.
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a snip...
I went ahead and finished opening it, being curious, and the queen walked out. She looked fully formed and walked around.
tecumseh...
a virgin queen and most especially a just emerge queen does not look like a fully formed queen. she should look more wasp like than a queen and generally when she first strolls out of the cell she will still be getting her sea legs and don't really just stroll about. Are you sure the tear in the cell was not on the side of that queen cell???
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There was one cell that also came off of a wonky piece of comb that I removed. We brought it home with us and I pulled some frames of capped brood, and 2 frames of nectar from one of my really strong hives and put them in a nuc. squished the bit of wax the cell was hanging from into some of the wax on the frame so it is hanging in the right direction, put some feed on them and closed them up. I have no idea if this would work, but figured I could always throw the bees back in if it doesn't.
I looked today. She hasn't hatched yet and the bees are all covering the cell a little agitated. Other than that they are taking the food and are pretty calm.
What do you think? There are a zillion things running through my head - she died in transport, she got hurt/marred in transport, they will kill her cuz she doesn't belong. Not to mention it is going to be cold tonite.
Anyway, this is purely a let's see what will happen experiment. I'm sure you old timers know the answer already - what is it??
I can't answer your question. But I would make the suggestion that if things don't improve in the nuc soon (or even if they do), you could put a frame with eggs in there in case they need to make another queen.
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I think you goofed. I think now you have another hive to explain to your neighbors and another super to have to harvest in July.
Ha! I hope so!! We have several intown people who want a hive, so I need as many as I can get! :) Now that I think they may have accepted the cell, I'm worried that she perished inside of it. :(. I guess we will see. She is a good queen though, that hive was packed - at least 1-2 weeks ahead of the hives in our yard.
a virgin queen and most especially a just emerge queen does not look like a fully formed queen. she should look more wasp like than a queen and generally when she first strolls out of the cell she will still be getting her sea legs and don't really just stroll about. Are you sure the tear in the cell was not on the side of that queen cell???
I'm sure it was a queen cell. the top, where it was attached to the comb, is what was opened. I tore it farther along the side and had to (gently) grab her wings to get her out, because she didn't want to back up. By 'fully formed' i meant she wasn't a white larva. She was little but her long abdomen was obvious. She did stumble a little on my hand, but when I brushed her on top of the frames she walked down.
What I'm wondering is how many days before the cell naturally opening it was (since I don't know exactly when they swarmed) and therefore how many more days she was supposed to 'cook'. Since the transplanted cell hasn't opened yet (as of yesterday), now I'm vacillating between worrying that the one I opened was several days too early and so she'll be defective, or if the one I transplanted is not opening because she got hurt in the transport and that's why she's late.
Bees, worry worry worry! lol It's exciting and a good learning experience for me. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the 'extra hive' :). I really didn't know if they would accept the queen cell. How fun is this!?!?
Thanks for the replies! And Slow, if it doesn't work, I may do that or I have another hive that is getting ripe for a split so I will probably combine them into that split for numbers. We'll see - fingers crossed!
love,
ziffa
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Ziffa- this is such an interesting story! and how many people do you know have held a newly hatched queen in their hand, regardless of how much longer she might have stayed in the cell, that's just a cool experience.
By the way, it's nice to hear another woman on the forum worry like I do, it's in our nature, can't help it!
Thanks for the good read :)
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Thanks Jen, it was very cool!
And, yes, I worry about all our critters, but especially the bees - drives my husband crazy! :laugh:
love,
ziffa
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Drives Iddee crazy too! HA! :D
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Drives Iddee crazy too! HA! :D
Was it a long drive? O:-)
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:yah: :laugh:
:goodone:
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Shortest trip ever taken. :P
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If you put a queen cell in the nuc I would think the virgin queen would kill her un-hatched sister right through the cell wall.
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If she is healthy, she will. If she is injured or not fully developed, the workers will remove her and protect the cell. Either way, Ziffa did the right thing.
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/beam!!
Iddee - you just made my day! ;D
thanks!
love,
ziffa