And then there were two...

[tedh]

Zweefer, that is one NICE looking lady right there!

[riverbee]

zweef, awesome pic and nice looking queen!  sorry to read about the other!

"APIs- not so sure... We had frost come through and set s lot of plants back...  Riverbee- how did El Paso fare in terms of the flora and fauna?"

good so far, threat of frosts, and amazingly no killing frosts like we usually get!  dandelions were a bit early, not unusual, but nice for my bees this year and some earlier pollen sources.  one i couldn't identify i had not seen before.........a really bright pinkish red? wish i had taken pix!

[LazyBkpr]

Lost one of my nucs this year because of the weather.. the queen went bananas and FILLED every space she could with brood, then we got the over night freeze...     I wasnt very happy about that, a queen that can lay like that is good to have, but I suppose it should fit into the category of wintering well... 

[neillsayers]

Just wondering. How long does it take for a queenless hive to turn out laying workers?

[LazyBkpr]

As I understand it...    Once the brood has Emerged,  two weeks +/- for their ovaries to develop and start laying.
   

[Ray4852]

David Burns has a nice video on laying worker hives. Check out his you tube site. If you belong to a bee club. Ask someone. They might be able to sell you a nuc. Ask if they can give you a frame of eggs too with plenty of nurse bees. You can fix your hive with a frame of eggs. Nurse bees will make a queen if they have eggs. Your hive is not dead yet. Any hive can be fixed if you can get the right resources to fix it. Local northern nucs should start coming in soon. Swarming season is starting now. I picked up two nucs for 70 dollars apiece from a club member that wanted to get rid of them.

[Zweefer]

Thanks, I'll check out his channel

[apisbees]

David Burns has a nice video on laying worker hives. Check out his you tube site. If you belong to a bee club. Ask someone. They might be able to sell you a nuc. Ask if they can give you a frame of eggs too with plenty of nurse bees. You can fix your hive with a frame of eggs. Nurse bees will make a queen if they have eggs. Your hive is not dead yet. Any hive can be fixed if you can get the right resources to fix it. Local northern nucs should start coming in soon. Swarming season is starting now. I picked up two nucs for 70 dollars apiece from a club member that wanted to get rid of them.

It is a package I don't believe the queen ever got laying so it didn't have the resources to supersede. The bees are old and their die off rate will be ever increasing. Yes it could be saved if enough resources are thrown at it, but is it worth it?
Let the bees join the other package colony where they can boost the hive population which will allow the queen to lay a larger brood area that will speed up the development of the colony. Once the colony can spare the resources a nuc can be split off

[neillsayers]

I asked the question about laying workers because I have a strong (lots of bees) split that raised 2 queen cells and for whatever reason they failed. I added a frame of eggs and young larva 3 days ago in hopes they will raise another queen. By the time that queen starts to lay they will be queenless almost 2 months. I'm not seeing any eggs from laying workers at this point.

[apisbees]

I have seen it take a way more time to have a queen back in the hive and laying than what it should be. If they don't draw cells there may have a slow queen in getting going. The frame of brood will not hurt the hive. If they need to make another queen, It will be 30 days till she is back in the hive laying, and another 3 week before her brood starts emerging.

[neillsayers]

Thanks Apis