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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #8380  by Dolly
 03 Aug 2020, 13:53
Hi
Hope someone can help I have two hives both have produced honey but then disaster struck
Hive 1 amazing queen played prolifically lots of honey unfortunately they swarmed I missed the signs ...bad bee keeper .
Anyway I found the new queen removed queen cells that remained then waited for her to get mated.
Checked hive again couldnt find her but more worrying mo eggs ...but there were very young lavea so maybe not all hope is lost ,advice please
So hive two was a swarm given to me it built up nicely and found the queen laying well some honey mot much but that's ok .
Disaster strikes bees turn very nasty ,so I decide to te queen
New queen arrives (very small!!) So introduce gradually as per instructions.
On next inspection no sign of her (she was marked) No eggs hmm but no new queen cells just a few queen cups .Oh dear what to do ???
Please help I do love my bees but worry I've messed up
 #8382  by Steve 1972
 03 Aug 2020, 14:16
Don't beat yourself up its been a bad year for quite a lot of beekeepers where swarming is concerned..me included..
Hive 1 be patient with it..some Queens can take upto 4/5 weeks to get mated and then another week or two till she gets laying..but by the sound of things if you have young larvae she must already be laying..
Hive two the bees must have rejected the new Queen and killed her if you can not find her..also if the bees have nothing to make Queen cells from ie eggs larvae they can not make them..have a good look through the hive again as the mark can wear of the Queens if not marked with a good pen..ideally you could do with a test frame of eggs and brood to put into the hive to see if the bees try to make Queens cells but i do not know your situation on being able to acquire a test frame..
 #8383  by Chrisbarlow
 03 Aug 2020, 14:54
Hive 1 - fine - larva means queen present

Hive 2 - posted queens are always small as they've stopped laying, perfectly normal

No eggs yet? Why? New introduced queens can take up to a week to start laying or the workers could have killed her. If there are no queen cells, I reckon she is still in there, probably.

I agree with Steve. Test frame of eggs. Stick one in and check three days later for queen cells. If no cells present, queen present, if queen cells, no queen present. Leave them to raise new queen.
 #8396  by AdamD
 04 Aug 2020, 10:46
It would be good to know timings (dates) of what happened when for each colony.
Hive 1 - If there 's larvae, there has to have been eggs... So the queen should be there.
Hive 2. A queens abdomen swells when she is laying, so a small one in a cage is not a worry. It can take a few days for a posted queen to come into lay. The best way to re-queen an iffy colony is to make up a nuc first and introduce the queen to that. Then unite later. If you see eggs and larvae at the next inspection in hive 1, which we hope, you can borrow a frame of it for hive 2 and see if they produce queencells.

Welcome to the forum btw!