BBKA Forum

Hi
I attempted to split a hive, following guidelines , the bees made queen cells and I removed all but two.I left them alone for a while then checked when I thought a new queen would have emerged and be laying by now.
The two queen cells were still there with dead queens inside.Can anyone shed light o this

Dolly, I would wait a few days and look again, perhaps there was another QC hidden and she has still not mated as yet. When they emerge they go round and kill the other Queens.

Dolly, It's very annoying when things don't go to plan. (I am often annoyed with my bees!)
What's the timing of you queen-raising attempt?
I assume that the queencells were sealed for more than 8 days which is the time they need? Were the dead queens inside still white or had they gone brown as they decomposed?
Could they have become cold and abandoned - i.e. were there many bees inside the hive?

Usually, if it's a small colony or nuc, the first queen out will kill any others and you will see queencells broken down from the side/back. If the colony is large, the first queen out will swarm leaving sisters in place in a queencells.

To check the presence of a queen you could insert a test-frame which has eggs and young larvae. If the colony makes queencells, then you know there is not a queen present in the hive. A test-frame will also inhibit laying workers which could develop if there has been no queen and brood for a while.

If all else fails you could still reunite them with the other half of the split and reset the clock.
If the objective was swarm management then it may even have persuaded them that the job is finished.
Possibly.....

Dolly wrote: ↑

22 May 2023, 17:00

Hi
I attempted to split a hive, following guidelines , the bees made queen cells and I removed all but two.I left them alone for a while then checked when I thought a new queen would have emerged and be laying by now.
The two queen cells were still there with dead queens inside.Can anyone shed light o this

WOW..That's an amazing timeline. From sealed queen cells to a laying queen will take 4 to 6 weeks in my opinion. So that would give a rough start date of late April. Is that correct ??

Once again can I ask people to put their location on their details as this country isn't all based in the South and timings vary.

Hi everyone,thanks for your reply, I think they may have become cold and abandoned ,my fault,as maybe not enough bees to look after them.Have put a frame of eggs in to test ,I'll see what happens