My further adventures in beekeeping

[Retroguy]

Well, after discovering my queens were gone a few weeks ago I found a local guy through my bee club that had mated queens for sale.  Bought two, placed the cages in the hives last Sunday the 5th.  Both were released by the hive.  Checked today, looks like the Italians did one in but the Carniolans have theirs running around.

While checking the Italians, a neighbor stopped.on the street, asked if he could take a look.  He's from Ukraine & has 10 hives so I said sure.  He could see eggs but we saw no sign of the marked queen so figure I've got a laying worker.  So much for that.  He left me with an invite to come over & check out his hives which I'll do in the near future.

Then I checked on the Carnis and found Queenie on the outside frame just sort of wandering about with little or no company.  Not much drawn comb there so wondering if she was site-seeing or lost or???  I'll check next weekend looking for larvae.  Was too focused on finding her majesty this go-around.

Also thinking about combining the hives.  May have to see if my new friend would part with a couple frames of brood to get the nurse population going...

[iddee]

Were the eggs on the bottom or side of the cells. If on bottom, be patient and don't disturb the Italians again until next weekend.

[riverbee]

and i would wait on the carni hive as well, give her time to start laying.

[Retroguy]

Okay, I won't rush in.  The neighbor said he saw eggs but he may not have understood that I'd just put a new queen in a week ago.  He didn't state whether the eggs were on the sides, multiples, or on the bottom like they should be.  We both had to clarify some of the North American terms or what we meant in our discussion so there is a bit of a language gap.  No hurry, I'll get things lined up for a combine if necessary but will keep my shirt on until next weekend at least.  Also figure on getting my mentor to take a gander at both hives about then to see what he thinks.

[tbonekel]

There once was a time that I thought I had a queen-less hive. I bought a new queen and put her cage in the hive. When I opened the hive a few days later, I noticed a big ball of bees. They were balling a queen. Not sure, but probably the new one. Closed the hive back up and opened a few days later and saw eggs. I guess there was a queen in there and I just didn't see evidence at the time. Patience is a virtue.

[Retroguy]

Well, it's time for another update.

Looks like the Italians didn't care for the new queen -- no sign of her a week after I put her in.  Cage was empty, population is definitely dwindling.  I'll probably do a combine of these gals with the Carnis this coming week.

The Carnis, on the other hand, let the new queen out but seemed to ignore her presence.  Found her a week after install just wandering around by herself on an undrawn outside frame so shooed her back into the brood area at the end of inspection.  No sign of eggs but it had only been a week.

Checked a couple weeks later on the Carnis and in a classic newbee move, popped the inner cover off and was just setting it down on the ground when what do I spot but Queen Sylvania (yes, I'd named her -- she has a blue dot -- you have to be a certain age to get the pun) running around the edge and underneith -- and into the grass she went.  Never could find her after that.  So much for the new queens.  BUT...

I had split a 5 frame nuc off from this colony a month earlier (misguided idea on my part).  On inspecting the nuc, I discovered the original Carni queen on a frame!  Did a newspaper combine of the nuc with the original hive and was successful.  I'll combine the last of the Italians with this hive, go on vacation for a week, come back and do a little housekeeping to get a 3-deep hive down to 2 deeps which is probably more manageable for the combined group.  I'll get my mentor involved in this so I don't screw it up.

After that it'll be keeping an eye on them and getting them ready for the Autumn and Winter seasons and see if I can keep them alive until Spring.  Also planning on planting clover this Fall so it comes up next Spring and is ready for the girls, whether this batch makes it or I get more.

I'm not discouraged in the least.

[apisbees]

Loose a queen in the grass get some help looking for her. Take a frame of open larva and shake the bees off it on the grass were you last saw her in 10 minutes she will most likely be in the ball of bees on the ground. It has worked for me.

[efmesch]

Apis, that is absolutely brilliant.
I was thinking of suggesting that retro leave the hive uncovered for a while.  I've had queens fly away during inspections and, given the opportunity, they fly back home after a short while.  But I didn't think the suggestion would work in this case since the queen didn't fly away and probably couldn't find her hive from the ground.  So I kept quiet on the problem---but your solution is perfect!!!! 

[Perry]

That is a great Idea Apis.
It was a few weeks ago when I was doing a transfer of bees and brood to a nuc, and I wanted the queen from the hive to go in that nuc. I spotted her on another frame and rather than use a queen clip like I probably should have, I went for her with my hand, picked her up by her wings, and moved her over the nuc box and let her go onto the top bars of the nuc. Funny thing though, I never saw her on the top bars or go down in between any frames. Great. I thought, I dropped her somewhere in between the hive and the nuc (about 2 to 3 feet apart). I scoured the ground, the grass, the sides of the hive and nuc, even got down on my knees and peered under the pallet the hive was on, nothing. After 10 minutes, and with me cursing my laziness and carelessness, I assumed all was lost and just hoped she would find her way back into the hive. I grabbed the nuc box and went to the back of my truck to load it, and who should come crawling down the sleeve of my beesuit? She must have crawled onto my sleeve and up to my shoulder the whole time I was looking for her!

[Retroguy]

Neat suggestion Apis!  I'll have to remember that one.