Is this a drone layer?

[neillsayers]

I combined two weak hives 5 days ago. Today I went in and reduced them down to 1 deep. It now has enough bees to cover 5 frames out of 9. When I made the combine I noticed that a queen cell had just emerged within 24 hrs.
Today I easily found eggs but they were all in the larger cells on one frame. I got my jewelers visor out and scoured the frame and couldn't see any in the small cells. Each and every one of them were layed perfectly in the center and standing up-no doubles or triples. I did not see the queen. That's not unusual for me with a young queen.

Is it normal for a new queen to lay a lot of drones on her first day or is it possible I have other problems?

Thanks guys for all your help.

[Jen]

Funny Neil.. I have a similar situation with mostly drone cells. I'm thinking that queen hasn't got the fertilizing thing down yet. She's less than a month old, I really want her to make it but it is getting late in the year. Will be interesting to here comments here ~

[tecumseh]

it is not that unusual for a queen to begin laying drones.  she should pretty quickly shift to laying normally and quite often the best and easiest thing to do is to feed just a wee bit of thin syrup and then to wait and look later (3 to 4 days).  even if a queen does lay in worker cells it is best to watch the capping on worker cells to really determine if a queen is or is not a drone laying queen.

[neillsayers]

Thanks tec! That puts my mind at ease for now.

[neillsayers]

Sad update on this thread. I waited 10 days to see if the eggs I saw were capped and it there were any more lain. Went in the hive a few hours ago and the eggs I had seen before are gone! The population has dwindled to less than a 1/3 cup worth of bees. In addition, when I arrived the hive was being robbed. I carefully went through every frame, the box, cover and bottom board-no queen. Sooo, I shook everyone out in front of the rest of my hives and laid out the wet combs where the bees could rob them out. This hive never had varroa problems. I doubt that it was ever strong enough to get a varroa problem. It had four queens in one season-what the heck? Many people have assured me they have done very well with these bees. Well, I had to try them, I won't go with this stock again.

In the meantime, the russian hives I have left appear to be doing well and look good to make it through winter.

[tecumseh]

mind tell us what kind of queens you tried and was the source local or at some distance?

[riverbee]

"It had four queens in one season-what the heck? Many people have assured me they have done very well with these bees. Well, I had to try them, I won't go with this stock again."

wow neil, 4 queens in one season?  like tec be interested in you sharing where your queens came from.........

[neillsayers]

Tec and riverbee,

I bought 2 nucs this spring from a commercial keep in Fayetteville area. He has yards here, Florida, and I think Michigan (don't remember for sure) and I think he runs almonds in CA.
They were made in Florida from Harbo VSH Breeder Queens.
The nucs were crammed full of bees, more than covering all 5 frames. But one nuc was troubled from the start. It was queenless on arrival but had a capped emergency cell and lots of capped and open brood. I got back with Steve Aust, (my supplier) and he sent me a new queen priority mail.  When I introduced her I found a little virgin queen and 5 more capped queen cells. I destroyed them and culled the little queen. They released the new queen themselves through the candy plug and she soon had an entire frame laid in near perfect pattern. Not long after that they turned up queenless again with queen cells built. She emerged and laid a half frame before she turned up missing. Again, another queen cell, the last one, which emerged and laid the frame I was referring to at the beginning of this thread.
 In the meantime, the other hive continue to grow until it had drawn out 70 percent of two deeps.  Then it turned up queenless and started to dwindle. So I combined the two, culling out frames full of SHB. That's the story of my ill fated journey with these bees.

[neillsayers]

The way I figure it, the cause is one of three possibles, or maybe a combination.

1) My management-very possible but I'm doing okay with other bees and if I have to nursemaid them I don't want them. May sound cold but its my approach to just about everything on the farm-goats mules chickens, etc...
2) Location- I live in the woods, about 2000 acres unbroken mixed hardwood-there are pastures within a mile of me and I'm sure they can find lots of forage there.
3) The bees themselves- doubtful-many folks have very good results with this stock of bee. Also, I got two nucs. What's the odds of getting two hives of duds at the same time.

Anyway, I became convinced that I had some weird anarchist bees and I don't need that heresy catching on around here.

[Perry]

Some things work, for some people and in some areas, and others don't.
A friend and I each bought 5 Buckfast queens from a reputable breeder in Ontario and I know lots of folks that love them, but both my friend and I had little luck with them and they are all gone now.
It's gotta work for you or it's useless.