Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Pests and Diseases => Topic started by: Jen on June 01, 2015, 12:28:20 am
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Just so you know, that I knew this would happen. Hive #2 to the left has been queenless for a very long time. My other 3 hives I was able to move queens around and make nucs with queen cells this spring. The only hive that had eggs was a swarm hive and I didn't want to take anymore eggs out of there. I simply ran out of options to get this one queened. So, I ordered a queen from Koehnan and had to wait 3 plus weeks. She came and is installed, and i'll check back in 4 days.
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These frames, 20 of them, are all drone brood. I learned a lot with this situation. The bees were really trying to survive. Laying lots of eggs, many capped queen cells that were empty or rotted inside or half filled with royal jelly.
Before I installed the queen, I reduced the hive to 2 meds and refreshed with many more frames that the new queen can lay in right away.
Now... What do I do with all these frames of capped drones?
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I'd freeze the frames to kill the brood, scratch the cappings and put them back in the hive. The bees will clean out all the dead pupae and the cells are still worker size.
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Okay, and yes they are worker cells. Great to know. I was thinking what a loss of all that pulled wax. Freezing, yes that would be good, because some of those cells are hatching now and the drones are peeking out and waving at me... un-nerving :D
PS. tomorrow I will take a pic of some of the yoga dvd's that would help your situation ;)
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Jen, what are those things on the bottom of your hives. They are framed and look like they have screening in them.
Learned something else from your post.....freeze, decap and let the bees clean out.
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Those are robbing screens
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So if you have laying workers, what did you do to get them to accept the new queen?
They will be desperately trying to kill her through the screen if its a wood cage, and openings if it is a plastic cage.
You should have been adding frames of open brood from other hives, swapping drawn frames in their place so the queens could lay in them to reduce the number of laying workers.. DONT let that queen out of the cage until you are sure they have accepted her.
And perhaps, I have misenterpreted what is going on entirely... JUST getting my coffee going....
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Les- Yep they are robbing screens that were on the hives early this spring when bees come out hungry, they aren't on now.
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Scott- "So if you have laying workers, what did you do to get them to accept the new queen?
They will be desperately trying to kill her through the screen if its a wood cage, and openings if it is a plastic cage.
You should have been adding frames of open brood from other hives, swapping drawn frames in their place so the queens could lay in them to reduce the number of laying workers.. DONT let that queen out of the cage until you are sure they have accepted her.
And perhaps, I have misenterpreted what is going on entirely... JUST getting my coffee going....
Well... poop... I thought the bees would be delighted to have perfumed queen in there... DANG! This situation is a first for me.
Okay, she's in a Benton cage, wooden, she's been in since Saturday afternoon, probably still in there.
This years history. If I would have had my three main hives that survived the winter intact I would have been able to do that. Hot hive bit the dust. Mother hive went queenless for some reason. Hive #2 swarmed and left the hive without any brood at all, I don't understand that. So my main 3 hives don't have any resources to offer.
All is not lost though. What I do have is two nucs, which are turning into hives, and one swarm hive, and mother hive hopefully has eggs in there now. They are all doing fine. Because these nucs and swarm hives are so new, I didn't think these hives had enough open or capped brood built up to swipe any from them. I mean, all three of them have around 2 frames of brood only.
I hope all this made sense. What should my next step be? :-\
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Your next step is to get the cork back in the cage before she gets out.
Then a week after she was installed, check her and release her.
Cross your fingers and hope.
If she is dead in a week, shake all the bees out in the yard and freeze the other boxes of comb.
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Oooh Man! I had no idea! Lots and Lots of queen stuff that I'm learning this year, not so happy queen stuff :sad:
Hey Iddee... maybe I ought to just pull her out of there, and save her. I may have enough resources no to pull a small nuc together for her. I don't think I want to take the chance and loose her...
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In that case, pull her and make up the nuc. Set it where that hive is and shake out all the bees 10 feet in front of it. Let them go back to the nuc, or wherever they go. Start the installation over, leaving her in the nuc for 3 or 4 days.
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:yah: I agree. That sounds like a plan. If you didn't do that, I was going to suggest taking one of your nucs and putting them in a full sized box in the place of the queenless hive. Shake out the bees of the queenless hive and they will find there way into the nuc strengthening that hive. But then you still have that new queen. Hmmm.
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Yep, there ya go, TBone and the Master WIzard have spoken. Good advice!
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I'm thinking first things first.. Get queen the heck out of there! At least save the investment, and protect queen from a mass assassination :'(
I can get to that in about an hour. I can put her back into her shipping box with some water on the screen until a good plan is handy. Stand by for update.
Thank you so much you guys ;D
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Update:
Dang! She's already out, I hope they were in a frenzie to love their queen...
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs13.postimg.cc%2Frb94wl0f7%2FDSCF2459.jpg&hash=4e7a356fde34e6af754a35135579ab2b7a15097b) (http://postimg.cc/image/rb94wl0f7/)
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If they were intent on killing her, they would have done that by now?
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Don't go back into it for a week. Then the moment you find eggs, the inspection is over. Close it back up and wait another week. All should be well by then. If no eggs in a week, she's probably gone.
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Okay, Thanks Iddee :)
If she's gone, then I should take that hive down, shake out the bees 10 feet away and let that batch find homes in the other hives?
Hey something just occured to me... if these bees have been laying this many eggs all this time, will they stop laying immediately if there is a new queen in the queendom? because if I get in there, how will I know for sure that the eggs are from her, or a combination of her and the laying bees?
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The eggs will be from her if she is still living. Her pheremones will stop the laying workers, but I doubt you will still have her. It will likely be shake out time.
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I'm curious -- how many people here have successfully turned a laying-worker hive into a queenright hive? What worked for you?
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Good question Led, I would like to know that as well. But, something tells me that we'll probably get 10 different answers ;) :D
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Jen, reference not wanting to take eggs, do you remember when I cut out a quarter sized comb with eggs and placed it in a queenless hive? It worked! So, next time, you might try that if you don't want to take a whole frame.
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My method has been a frame of open brood with eggs.. No queen cell made? Another frame two weeks later... With the addition of the second frame I have found queen cells... If NO queen cells then wait another two weeks and add another frame of brood... On this addition they will usually pull queen cells...
Queen cells mean they will accept a queen... if they start cells on the second frame I may let them raise the queen.. If they pull cells on the third frame, I introduce a mated queen in the normal way, and destroy any queen cells started.
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And you could have taken the 3 frames of brood and started a nuc and been 4 weeks ahead.
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I researched this topic a bit after I ended up with a drone laying Nuc. The consensus seems to be that brood pheromones inhibit the development of drone layers almost as well as an active queen. So putting in a few rounds of brood as outlined in the previous post gradually supresses them. Another way is Robo's queen introduction frame (basically an enormous queen cage).
Hindsight is a great thing. I think this would have work in your situation: Pop an empty drawn frame into the middle of your queen right Nuc. Give the queen 2 days to fill it up. Then take that frame of eggs, brush the bees off and put it in the queen less hive. Repeat after about a week. This takes very little away from the Nuc, they have not lost bees and they have not spent resources feeding brood.
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I agree.
Saving a laying worker hive is not worth the time and resource invested, but everyone should try it at least once.
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I can't believe I sent my queen to the gallows... heavy siiiiiigh
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Pete, it didn't come clear until you posted your research here. And I remember your post not too long ago when you found the same situation. All day I have been bamboozled as to why in the world a long term queenless hive would ever concieve of killing a queen, when that is exactly what they need.
Led wanted to know if there is anyone out there that has tried to introduce a queen into a laying worker hive and been successfull?
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My method has been a frame of open brood with eggs.. No queen cell made? Another frame two weeks later... With the addition of the second frame I have found queen cells... If NO queen cells then wait another two weeks and add another frame of brood... On this addition they will usually pull queen cells...
Queen cells mean they will accept a queen... if they start cells on the second frame I may let them raise the queen.. If they pull cells on the third frame, I introduce a mated queen in the normal way, and destroy any queen cells started.
I would say yes :yes:
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I just tried something.
I had a drone laying nuc, I took it out 1o feet. I sat another nuc in it's place that had 1 frame with 2 capped queen cells in the new nuc. Then I dumped the drone laying nuc out and let the bees fly into the nuc with the capped queen cells in it. Gonna see if they tear down the queen cells.
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Pete, it didn't come clear until you posted your research here. And I remember your post not too long ago when you found the same situation. All day I have been bamboozled as to why in the world a long term queenless hive would ever concieve of killing a queen, when that is exactly what they need.
I think (from my own research) that it's mostly a case of biology gone crosswise. Remember, the bees aren't consciously thinking this through. All they know is that the pheromones produced by the laying workers are stronger than a virgin queen's pheromones, even though it isn't to their benefit to choose the former over the latter. A worker is not that much different from a queen -- genetically, they're identical.
I like the thought of slowly overwhelming the laying workers' pheromones by introducing multiple steps of brood into the hive. Brood produce pheromones that suppress workers, and it gives you a chance to wait until they start naturally producing queen cells, instead of risking a queen's life by dumping her into a pheromone-laden hive. Very clever. Maybe not cost-effective, but it sounds to me like it ought to work.
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My understanding is a bit different. I believe the drone laying workers in the hive become the de-facto queens. The bees consider themselves queen right at that point. So a newly introduced queen is treated as an intruder regardless of her pheromone strength.
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My understanding is a bit different. I believe the drone laying workers in the hive become the de-facto queens. The bees consider themselves queen right at that point. So a newly introduced queen is treated as an intruder regardless of her pheromone strength.
Exactly.. the pheromone they produce makes them think they are queen right. THere are also not one or two laying workers....
A laying worker can produce one.. MAYBE two eggs in a day.. so to get cells with multiple eggs in them;
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs8.postimg.cc%2Fewu12zrwx%2FLonnie_Fburglayingworkers.jpg&hash=538a1595b086f3a2ac488809379c19f10237296e) (http://postimg.cc/image/ewu12zrwx/)
Means that there are hundreds of workers laying eggs... In order to fix that, they need the brood to suppress the ability to lay... adding a queen introduction cage with a new queen "may" work, but all your doing is adding a different pheremone than the one they already have, so it takes longer than if you use Brood Pheremone, and perhaps a combination of the two would be even faster and more dramatic...
But as Iddee mentioned on another thread.. the time and effort is not usually worth it. You could have half a dozen new hives started and running well by the time you get the situation fixed with the laying workers... shake them out, and let them beg their way into those up and coming new hives to strengthen them.
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Although I had no idea of this scenario...this is starting to make sense.
I've been keeping a quiet check on the outside of the hive Not Hoping to find a dead queen.
To reiterate... I took almost all the heavy drone capped frames out of that hive, and brought that hive down to two meds with pulled frames waiting for the new queen.
Don't you think that taking all that drone cell pheromone out of that hive before I introduced the new queen, would change the atmosphere to the positive for the new queen?
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I'm going to climb out on a limb here Jen and say no. It sounds to me like the pheromone is coming from the laying workers. Let's see what the smart folks say. Ted
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Hi Ted :) Now I hadn't figured that into the equation, thought the scent of all those capped drones was what was making the scent...
Hu... now ya got me scratchin my head ;)
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Check them on the weekend. If you have eggs, one per cell, and in the bottom, your queen made it.
Was she marked?
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My understanding is a bit different. I believe the drone laying workers in the hive become the de-facto queens.
Well yes, that's pretty much what I mean :) Jen's question was why the bees would choose fake queens (drone-laying workers) over a real queen. What I was trying to explain is that biologically, the other workers are wired to respond to *any* queen pheromones, not just those produced by fertile queens; and they're also wired to prefer smells they're used to over ones they aren't. So, even though the drone-laying workers aren't real queens, the bees' biological wiring just isn't complex enough to make that distinction, even though the survival of the hive (at this point) depends upon it.
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Iddee- I have it down for Saturday and yes she was marked :)
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And you are missing one key element in getting a long queen less colony to raise a good productive queen. When a colony has no new brood emerging the hive after 2 to 3 weeks lacks young nurse bees that are needed to be able to make the special royal jelly that is needed for the development of a good queen. That is why it takes putting brood into the hive a couple of times before the bees will begin drawing good queen cells, like LazyBkpr does. Unless you are certain the hive has young nurse bees to raise a good queen I would place a hive or nuc in a full size box in its place and shake the bees and let them join the colony with a laying queen. After a few days you can split the combined hive if desired as both will receive bees of all ages and development.
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I checked my laying worker nuc that I dumped and then inserted a frame with 2 queen cells on it in the nuc box and let them fly back into it.
They did not tear the 2 queen cells down. looks like it worked.
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Cool Yankee :) I won't know if my purchased queen made it until Saturday. I've been looking at the ground in front of the hive and haven't found a dead queen yet... holding my breath
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I hope so, but thats a lot of laying workers for her to overcome.
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Yes, it is :-\ siiiigh, I really had no idea what I was introducing this queen into. Geeeez! I'll update Saturday. I hope I have one of those against all odds success stories to tell 8)
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I'm curious -- how many people here have successfully turned a laying-worker hive into a queenright hive? What worked for you?
http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,3865.msg53871.html#msg53871
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I think you have gotten good advice on how to rectify the situation, hopefully she hasn't been released and killed.
I do find one of your observations very interesting.
The bees were really trying to survive. Laying lots of eggs, many capped queen cells that were empty or rotted inside or half filled with royal jelly.
This is the scenario I like to bring up when I hear folks doing walk away splits and proclaiming the bees will "Always" choose the right age larvae to rear a queen from. If bees will attempt to raise a queen from an unfertilized egg when desperate enough, why would they not raise one from an older larvae if that is all that is available.
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Robo, just as soon as LazyBkpr read my post about the introduction of this queen, he put up the warning that the bees are prob going to try and kill her right away. Iddee follow suit. DARN IT! I suggested running (not walking) out to the hive and getting her out of there. She in her cage had only been in the hive for 2 days... she was already out... Oh Man! I had this vision of the bees being in a frenzy to get her out and kill her, or maybe, just maybe they were in a frenzie to except her and get down to business.
Saturday will tell the story... I'm dyin' here :-\
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My understanding is a bit different. I believe the drone laying workers in the hive become the de-facto queens. The bees consider themselves queen right at that point. So a newly introduced queen is treated as an intruder regardless of her pheromone strength.
I'm with Pete on this False Queen business. I shake the bees (initially) and add open brood weekly until they make a queen. Thing is, once the bees have gone without emerging brood for 4 weeks, ovaries are well on the way to producing false queens. By then, its almost hopeless and the remaining bees won't live much longer.
In a honey bee colony that is broodless and queenless the ovaries of many of the workers develop to some extent, and a few workers have ovaries that are sufficiently developed for eggs to be laid...
Most of the workers whose ovaries reach full development lay eggs (about 20-30) for a short period (4-6 hours) only, and also undertake normal worker duties, including foraging...
Sometimes in a queenless colony one of the workers is constantly surrounded by a 'court' of attendants and appears to be treated as a queen. (Park, 1949), from _Pheromones of Social Bees, by John Free, p55
It takes about four weeks for ovaries to develop in worker bees with the absence of brood pheromones and queen mandibular pheromones. There will be many laying workers in the hive after so long without inhibitory pheromones. Each false queen can lay from 20 to 100 eggs before burning out as a layer.
The addition of open brood inhibits laying workers, but not as much as brood pheromone and Queen substance together. Just some thoughts.
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I had a laying-worker hive. Twice (about a week and a half apart) I gave it a frame of eggs and young brood together with their attending bees. Yesterday, a week after the second frame went in, I opened the hive and found a mated queen and plenty of eggs. What surprised me though was that I found no empty queen cells and a lot of sealed brood. The sealed brood couldn't have come from a queen that developed from the second frame I gave them, so it must have been that the queen came from the first frame I introduced (about three weeks ago). But when I put in the second frame, there were still cells with two and more eggs in the hive.
Try an figure out that one.
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Ef! Your questions are way too hard :D So, I shall forever remain the novice so I Can Ask YOU The Questions :D
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Many new queens will lay 2 or 3 eggs in a cell until they get settled in.
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Iddee, I didn't think of that but I think you hit the nail on the head. When I put the second frame of brood into the hive after a week and a half, I had no expectations that they would have already raised a new queen and only perfunctorally examined the frame for an empty queen cell.
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I Cannot Contain Myself!!!! :laugh: :D :laugh: To reiterate this story
Hive #2 was full of drone brood, obviously no queen for a very long time.
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I purchased a queen $50, and introduced her, sure that I was doing the right thing. Posted it, and was told that more than likely she would be killed, probably certainly :sad: Ran out to the hive to retrieve her, the bees had her out in 2 days. I didn't know if they got her out to kill her or to love her :-\
GUESS WHAT!!! TAAH DAAH ;D Six days later, and there is very small larvae
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs4.postimg.cc%2Fkjx2bwymx%2FDSCF2478.jpg&hash=566d7146e0667c820eb356b77d4e9e1a80bc3202) (http://postimg.cc/image/kjx2bwymx/)
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She's a purty lady---really looks good. You can't imagine how happy I am for your good fortune: successful introduction (against all odds), beautifully marked (a really professional job at that), and laying nicely. Heres's "cheers" to the successful continuation of the season.
:goodjob: :photos:
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Thank You Ef! I'm Just Giddy ;) Now, my three hives are queen right, and my two nucs are queen right. LET THE FLOW BEGIN :D
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Congrats Jen!
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Time to breathe a sigh of relief! Sometimes things work out in spite of everything we do wrong LOL. Congratulations and as you said, let the flow begin. :bee: :eusa_clap: :eusa_clap:
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Don't forget to tell the big man thanks. He is the only one that could make that happen.
Congrats, you must be living right.
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Always give thanks Iddee, Always. When I started the inspection my heart was a pit a pattering, and she let me see her on the upper med, bless her bee pickin' little heart :D
Thanks Les! Ya know, I was just devastated that I may have provoked a mass assassination onto this queen, then for all the things we do to 'try' and make it right for the bees, and then those plans go askew, it sure is nice when it swings your way once in a while ;D
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I'm very glad this worked out for you Jen.
What I'm unsure if... Is how can you tell if the bees are trying to kill her through the screen of the queen cage or trying to tend to her? In the mess I'm dealing with in one of my hives, OR1, I looked in today and there where maybe 8 bees on her screen. How would I know if they were being loving or hateful toward her?
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Good question Cpn :) when I first started introducing queens I was told to watch for many bees that are clinging tightly to the cage, or bees that are stinging the cage, watch for their rumps in the stinging mode. When I put this queen in I watched for a bit to see how they were going to act right away. What I witnessed was bees coming to the cage and 'gently' crawling all over the cage, like they were quickly curious. When this happens they will want to bring her food and water.
Hoping there will be some more input on this subject :)
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if they turn their butts in the cage trying to sting her, or what looks like biting, or are acting aggressively or agitated not a good sign.
also, this can be coupled with the 'sounds' or a 'hum' we learn to recognize or associate with what we think bees are.... happy or agitated, and activity on the combs.
if you see bees clamoring on the cage with their antennae in, AND you witness bees fanning near and from a distance of the cage with their butts in the air, this is typically a good sign........other bees will quickly come to the tops of the frames, and your frames will be lined with bees at the tops.
kinda cool to see actually. a new queen reigns.
i think setting the cage down with the queen on top of the frames and watching how the bees react is a good indication on how well they will accept her.
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Yep, what Mrs River Said.. they will also "grasp" the wire and not want to let go if they are angry. It is hard to move or dislodge them. If they are happy, they will move when you touch them.
Good deal Jen! I was busy scratching my head and read what Iddee posted.. His is the best explanation I can think of. You are indeed blessed my friend! I am happy that worked for you!
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Thanks Scott :) Every season the bees give me a giant scenario to figure out, It's been a queen learning year for sure. I wonder how I would have managed these situations without all of you great people on this forum. I sit out on my back step with my morning coffee and see my hives all queen right and the bees quietly whirling in the air in front of each of their homes... the bees and me are content.
If you dawdle too long Scott.. I just might make the Master Beekeeper title before you... Wouldn't That Be A Hoot! :D
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If you dawdle too long Scott.. I just might make the Master Beekeeper title before you... Wouldn't That Be A Hoot! :D
Nope! I'd be quite proud of you!
When there is something I wish to learn about, I can stay attentive for LONG periods of time... when I could really care less about what is being taught, I have great difficulty paying attention long, and or retaining any part of it... When I look at what must be learned/taught and tested, to become a master beekeeper I do not look forward to attempting it... There is quite a lot to learn that is well beyond "beekeeping"
But it will be attempted.
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:) and there is no doubt in my mind that you would do well...exceptional even ;)
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Awesome thread, Jen. I learned a ton. Thank you for asking good questions to help break down the why's and why nots of laying workers.
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Hi Litefoot :) Awe Shucks... ;) But you know what? I learned a lot on this thread as well, soo interesting that worker bees can establish their own pheromone... AND THEN QUITE POSSIBLY, ALMOST CERTATINLY, KILL A BRAND NEW MATED QUEEN!! the nerve I tell ya ;)
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Agree with Litefoot, this was a learning post. Thanks for keeping us updated.
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Was digging around in my little bee shed and came across a forgotten plastic bin of meds with about 1/3 honey capped, that were stored over the winter. Not a huge infestation yet, but well on it's way. Should I knock off the visible webs and cacoons and then freeze for 48?
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(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs27.postimg.cc%2F4islrmbzz%2FDSCF2483.jpg&hash=799bece00e3e774142842b92faadcc4af283958b) (http://postimg.cc/image/4islrmbzz/)
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Wax moth cocoons and their webs don't "knock off". You'll have to get your hands into the job and pull them off as well as you can. Look in the corners for hard to spot cocoons. They like to hide out of sight. Freezing for 48 hrs should do in the remaianing larvae.
What is your plan for the honey? Extract or feed it back to the hives? Either way, after the combs have been emptied, I would suggest giving them a spraying with BT for future protection. The pollen packed cells is a real attractant for the moth larvae and they love to burrow tunnels through them, developing rapidly while hidden below the surface.
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I was hoping to clean them up like you said, then freeze, then put back into hives and let the bees clean house and finish capping them off with honey ~ is that an exceptible plan?
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From what I could make out in the pictures, the frames were used for brood rearing or were bordering on brood rearing frames. There's a lot of pollen packed into those cells and I don't think the bees would add honey over the pollen. Pollen in honey frames also makes uncapping more difficult. I would suggest extracting the honey that you can and then place the frames with the remaining packed pollen close to an area in the hive where the queen has just layed egges or where there is very young brood, hoping that the pollen in the cells will be cleared out to feed the brood.
I can't guarantee that will happen though. I find Pollen in honey frames to be a terrible nuissance, particularly because it unbalances the extractor as the extracting process proceeds. You start out with well balanced frames and then as the honey flies out and the pollen stays behind, the extractor starts to wobble more and more.
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A sound idea Ef :) Because of our drought here in California my frames are just loaded with pollen, not so much nectar. But the temps are up in the 90's and the Star Thistle is blooming so I'm hoping for a big flow any minute now ~
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Update on 20 drone ridden frames. When I removed these frames, I didn't have the freezer space to freeze them yet, and then I got very involved in caring for hubby and his surgery stuff and on and on.
So these frames have been stored in my bee shed for a few weeks. Boy! does it stink in that shed!
Are they still usable?
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Did the wax moth or hive beetles slime them or is it just the dead drone brood that smells?
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No hive beetles here. But 10 of the frames now have wax moth.
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Then it just depends on how bad the frames are. The bees will clean and repair if they can.
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jen, how bad are the frames? can you post some pix?
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Hi there Yes I can, would have done it sooner today but internet went down
Okay, so the there are 10 out of the 20 frames that have 'noticable' wax moth damage and ick. This frame is the worst of them, the damage on the other 9 frames go down in degree of ick.
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs1.postimg.cc%2F9wz8y75i3%2FDSCF2496.jpg&hash=54f802ae853355b33764e610947045edc3d71f1d) (http://postimg.cc/image/9wz8y75i3/)
I want to pic all those rotten drone larvae out of each frame, but I don't know if the bees would rather do it?
See some of these frames are just loaded with capped drones. I think it's asking a lot to have the bees clean all that up. What do you guys think?
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs29.postimg.cc%2Fppfv1pen7%2FDSCF2453.jpg&hash=e8a2265ba73390a431cd6a5a33100e63947b46af) (http://postimg.cc/image/ppfv1pen7/)
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Oh heck ya, I would get those in the freezer or sprayed with BT.
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Cool! Out of curiousity... can you estimate how long it would take a strong hive to clean up a frame like this? I sure want to get these back in the hives, queens are needing bee space :)
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way easier for the bees to clean up and repair those than build new ones. I would take a capping fork and uncapp all the dead brood. I have only ever put back single frames of drone brood and it took then about 2 days to get everything cleaned up.
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What pete said.. if you can give each hive a frame or two, give them three or four days and swap in the other frames.. I WOULD insure the wax moth was dead by frreezing them overnight before they go into the hives. Maybe not necessary but thats what I would do... Freeze, thaw, install.
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I like that idea! was worried about loosing all that nice comb. Thanks guys, into the freezer they go ;D
UPDATE: And there you have it! 20 plus frames of stinky capped drones and wax moth in the freezer ;D Sure glad to get that mess out of my shed, AND save all that comb! Thank Scott, Pete, and Ef ... I love this forum ;D
Touche' You Nasty Little Wretches!
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.postimg.cc%2F40jmp1x3j%2Fimage.jpg&hash=7891732e3c3bcc4227b7ff5eaddedcbb3b107443) (http://postimg.cc/image/40jmp1x3j/)