First Inspection of 2016

[Retroguy]

Hi All;

Picked up 3 nucs with Minnesota Hygienic Queens on May 14.  Installed them when we got home and put on 1:1 sugar water & pollen patties.

Hive #1 looks pretty good.  Lots of larvae, spotted Her Highness going about her duties.  Plenty of stores (some left over from last year's dead-outs) so next weekend I'm planning to put on a 2nd deep because they're close to the full point.

Hive #2 hasn't seemed very active.  Just a few girls bringing in pollen, didn't find the queen and there are 3 supercedure cells capped so I'm guessing they did away with the original queen and are working on a palace coup.  Didn't see any new brood (they had lots when we got the nuc) and they've seemed a bit pissy all week.  A couple of the girls would "escort" me half way back to the house after watching them for about 3 minutes.

Hive #3 has a queen but she's been referred to as a "runner".  I had one like this last year that acted the same way.  No attendants, just running all over the comb.  Only cells I spotted were drone cells, no larvae, no eggs.  Plenty of pollen & sugar water from last year's dead-outs as well as stuff they've been putting away.

I'll also mention that the workers are Carniolans that over-wintered and the queens were added to the nucs this Spring.  Fairly recently if I'm reading the signs correctly.

Watcha think folks?

[Jen]

Hey Retro  I have a hive with a runner as well. I always thought those were virgin queens. Maybe your runner is out and about with her mating fellows. When I saw my runner last week, it was just a flash of her and she seems a little smaller than usual, I thought too that she might be a virgin queen. A thought 

[iddee]

I would be contacting the seller for an adjustment, either with bees or cash.

[Lburou]

I'll jump in here with some free advice RG.  Hives one and two will probably be fine, except #2 will be 30 days behind...You might just ask for another queen. 

Hive #3 could yet be okay if you can get the runner to lay.  A frame of wet brood might be just what she needs to decide to lay.  If that doesn't work, ask for two queens. 

Another option/interim solution would be to combine NUCs one and three until you get replacement queens.  JMO   

Oops, I see Iddee has already said as much while I was typing. 

[riverbee]

retro..........where did you purchase your nucs from ?

EDIT AND ADD:

oops forgot to say why i asked..........just thinking along the lines of iddee and lee........and know or know of sellers in wisconsin and minnesota.

[Retroguy]

False alarm everyone.  Had our mentor out today for a look.  He saw eggs & larvae in all instances.  He confirmed my guess that Hive #1 was ready for a 2nd deep.  He told me the others were also ready so I spent an hour adding those.  He said keep feeding -- no flows on yet in this area and said the girls were going to go like gangbusters once they have the room.

So I must've been displaying 2nd year jitters.

Got these nucs on Craigslist.  The guy has been making his own nucs for several years because he was tired of buying "junk" from others.  He gets his queens from a reputable source to maintain the hygienic trait and is going back to Italians because he doesn't like the Carni' s attitudes.  I'll post pictures later.

Thanks for the advise!

[CBT]

Is there ever doubt in a beekeepers mind about how their hives are doing?

[Retroguy]

None whatsoever.  LOL