buying Queens

[pistolpete]

DLMKA: zweefer has nucs that were not all that strong to begin with.  Also he's brand new to bee keeping.  I really don't think that OTS queen rearing fits his situation.  I do love the OTS as a method though, had great luck with it this year.

[Zweefer]

here is her majesty - little does she know her days are numbered...

[apisbees]

That is realty spotty brood I am surprised that the bees have not started building supersedure cells yet. You will need to check for them when you dequeen the colony before requeening. Thanks for posting all the pictures it allows for us to see and understand the issues of the hive and what you are going thru. I am sorry that you have to go through this in your first year, but I think you like Jen will gain 5 years of beekeeping knowledge because of your experiences. A lot of my knowledge doesn't come from every thing that went right in beekeeping but from learning from what went wrong.

[riverbee]

great pix zweefer, just to add to what apis said, she is small.   i think there were some cups started? and also, yes check for these or cells and cut them.

"I think you like Jen will gain 5 years of beekeeping knowledge because of your experiences. A lot of my knowledge doesn't come from every thing that went right in beekeeping but from learning from what went wrong."

well said apis, and very true!

[tecumseh]

LazyBkrp makes some good point about no treatment bees.  To add to this once you go down that road you may well notice that each generation (each year) they can and often do get better and better and this is why I sometimes suggest to self proclaimed authorities that comparing results from year to year may have absolutely no relevance. 

close to home is good but so is adding genetic diversity and locating some 'race' of bees that suits your locality.  as far as the local thing goes I sometimes think this is as much about the stress of shipping as the underlying quality of the queen.   

[Zweefer]

That is realty spotty brood I am surprised that the bees have not started building supersedure cells yet. You will need to check for them when you dequeen the colony before requeening. Thanks for posting all the pictures it allows for us to see and understand the issues of the hive and what you are going thru. I am sorry that you have to go through this in your first year, but I think you like Jen will gain 5 years of beekeeping knowledge because of your experiences. A lot of my knowledge doesn't come from every thing that went right in beekeeping but from learning from what went wrong.

You have no idea apis.  I took some more that day, I'll see if there are any worth putting up.  If so, I'll be adding them to my thread of woe :
http://www.worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/index.php/topic,1684.0.html