Wayne's Bees ~ Let's Talk

[Green bee]

 Jen maybe l should have started a new thread for this but I thought it would go well with the subject at hand. I inspected my five hives yesterday and all was good with exceptions of one of the four Wayne’s hives. After opening this particular hive I noticed lots of honey and pollen and even a lot of bees and a small amount of capped brood. No eggs or larva. The bees temperament seemed normal and with exceptions of me not finding the queen, nothing looked out of place.
     So this left me with what I consider somewhat of a problem. This hive is a three deep nuc. So I considered combining this hive with another nuc but didn’t see the need as both hives are strong enough I feel to get through the winter by themselves. My other option was to give it a week or so and go back in and look again for her or eggs but with the season coming to an end and queens getting scares , I decided on my third option to purchase a new queen (not a Wayne’s because none are available) and bank her pending another inspection to look for her again. I really hate the thought of losing one of my Wayne’s queens but at least I caught before winter set in. A lot if different things could be responsible for her lose but it sucks because she was good one day and gone the next so to speak.so what would you guys have done in this situation? Did I do the right thing?

[Jen]

Hi Gbee    I have been learning to be very patient with queens. I would keep checking for queen cells before introducing your new queen. Would be sad to waste a Wayne's, or any queen for that matter, that still might be in the hive. Queens can be soo shy.... let me think here.... so if there aren't any eggs there might not be any queen cells...

Could be..maybe.. that she stopped laying for a bit. I do remember somewhere that the girls tell her when to lay, and when to slow down, or when to stop all together for awhile.

Is there any room for her to lay in this hive? Maybe that's why you're not finding eggs? a thought

I am still continually removing frames from the brood boxes of all my hives because the bees have overloaded the cells with nectar/honey, nectar bound hives, and I have yet to feed this year... I've had to keep replenishing the hives with new wax frames so she can continue to lay.

So, I talked my way thru this Gbee  I think I would recheck that hive and examine it very closely for eggs that were layed by a queen, on the bottom of the cells, and/or queen cups and cells for a week or two.

PS. This is why I like to mark my queens. I can find her right away.

[Green bee]

   Talked to wally and he said the same thing Jen quote ( if you gonna keep bees you gonna have to learn to be patient) lol I know you both are right. My biggest problem here was over thinking the problem. My first instinct was to wait and I should have followed that. He also told me he would combine before he requeened this time of year. I guess I thought of the right things to do just chose the wrong thing to do. I guess we live and learn. Anyway I am gonna look again for the queen if she isn’t there I’ll combine the two nucs as wally suggested. Jen my queens are marked also. I mark my Wayne’s queens yellow.

[Jen]

Oh that is funny! and I'm pleased. You're gonna get this bee thing Gbee, I Promise! I mean you're going to get to the point, after a handful of seasons, where you won't second guess yourself so much. But I have to admit, that in the spring, Every Spring! I forget stuff and I'm so glad that I have this forum. Because I often ask the same questions over every year   

  Gbee "I guess I thought of the right things to do just chose the wrong thing to do."

Bees have a way of adjusting to all the things we as humans challenge them with. Every season I'm amazed at how they simply go about correcting all the scenario's that I thought were right, but there was maybe a better solution... and they just correct what you did and move on.

Such inspiration these little creatures are 

UPDATE: Hey Gbee, guess what? later this afternoon, I inspected one of my nucs. I didn't find a single egg. But I did find young larvae. so that means that the queen hasn't been laying for about 5 maybe more days. So I thought, like you, that queen may be gone. But by golly there she was in the bottom brood box doing just fine. FYI 

[riverbee]

"Talked to wally and he said the same thing Jen quote ( if you gonna keep bees you gonna have to learn to be patient) "

............   can't help it greenbee but so true, and i can hear him saying it! wally is right on!

" My biggest problem here was over thinking the problem. My first instinct was to wait and I should have followed that. He also told me he would combine before he requeened this time of year. I guess I thought of the right things to do just chose the wrong thing to do. I guess we live and learn. Anyway I am gonna look again for the queen if she isn’t there I’ll combine the two nucs as wally suggested."

we all overthink! and we learn by the experience of getting in there and doing, making decisions. whether right or wrong. it is how we learn and you have a great mentor to help you out!  keep us posted! thanks green bee!

[Green bee]

 For some reason I think over thinking problems is just human nature....If I could just make my wife understand that life would be much easier.

[brooksbeefarm]

Green Bee, Do like i told my wife, I'm the King and this is my Castle . Jack

[Green bee]

Green Bee, Do like i told my wife, I'm the King and this is my Castle . Jack

  I have to ask, how did that work out for ya?

[brooksbeefarm]

Well i'm still Here Living on a farm i have a lot of outside chores to do with cattle, Bees, and repairs in the shop. So she's lucky i'm not in my castle that much. Jack

[Green bee]

 

Well i'm still Here Living on a farm i have a lot of outside chores to do with cattle, Bees, and repairs in the shop. So she's lucky i'm not in my castle that much. Jack

. In other words your the king as long as you do your chores!  that sounds like me

[CBT]

I’ve heard someone say if you think your king around here hand me that pan and I’ll crown you

[Jen]

 

[neillsayers]

I’ve heard someone say if you think your king around here hand me that pan and I’ll crown you

That would be my Sweet Wife's response.

[brooksbeefarm]

Green bee, check to see if the Queen is home, if not , your the King and can do what ever YOU think is right. Now was that so hard. Jack