What have you done today bee-related?

[MickBBKA]

I have had some colonies do the same. They were all Q right but no eggs or brood and rammed full of stores. I suspected this from about November but never opened them up. 1 just dwindelled away to nothing and died. 2 others ended up with a cup full of bees which a frost would have killed. Another 2 had a drone laying Q and a Qless which never had laying workers but obviously no Q. So despite the temps a few weeks ago my only choice was to go in and figure all this out. I decided to cage the 2 Q's despite them having no evidence of brood at any stage and put them in the other 2 colonies having removed the drone layer. Check back a few days ago and they have 6 or 7 frames each of brood and look fantastic. No idea what was going on or why they had stopped laying in their original colonies. It wasn't a Q problem and had loads of pollen and honey stored. Maybe this Labour government is to blame and the workers went on strike. Could be a moral in this story

[JoJo36]

Thanks Nigel but surely these flyers will still have to accept the queen when you merge and they will be tetchy if you've just taken away their old queen??!! Thought by taking old queens out a couple of days before they may be desperate for a nice new one??!! I have only 1 nuc box and was thinking of using 2 supers as temp broods for a short time??!!
You've got me thinking now but when you merge yours after nurse bees have accepted new queen, when do you dispatch old one??!!
Mick maybe you're right as all these queens seem to have misbehaved from the time this Labour government was voted in??!! Buyers remorse!!

[NigelP]

Shouldn't matter, If you want to merge, you just upgrade your nuc to a full brood box. Remove queen from old colony and newspaper unite. Your accepted queen is surrounded and protected by her new devotees and in my experience is always accepted by all the other bees. I've lost a few queens to full hives where the flyers simply won't accept her.
But it demands a lot of kit, so try it your way and let us know how you get on.

[NigelP]

Maybe this Labour government is to blame and the workers went on strike. Could be a moral in this story

Who knows, but it's a weird one. Several other bee keepers are reporting the same issue.
I've now thrown three out and bleeding off flyers from fourth before throwing them out to find new homes.

[JoJo36]

Sounds like the right approach Nigel being ruthless!!
You would be perfect working for 'border control'??!!

[JoJo36]

Also thinking of maybe getting old queen with some nurse bees in a queen cage with some fondant, spray with water and leave for 3-4 days to see if new queens accepted?! This way less equipment and hopefully insurance?!
Hmmm I did requeen about 4 years ago with just 1 new queen and they did accept her but not always guaranteed!

[MickBBKA]

Its always really seemed strange to me the problems people have introducing queens. I have never in 13 years had a Q refused. I can really only put it down to strains of bees as we almost all use the same methods. My last 2 introductions I just put in a cage blocked with fondant but they were doomed and would have been mad to refuse. Most times I put a Q in a cage and lay on top of the frames for 5 mins, they always end up covering it and fanning then I walk her in. I have no experience or understanding of Q rejection... Amazing what we find between such a small group on this national forum.

[JoJo36]

Mick maybe your workers know that they are 'hopelessly queen less' and understand that the new queen is their 'last chance' where taking out the old queen a day or so before introduction of a new queen they may still feel they want to make a queen from old queens eggs??!! Maybe overthinking this one??!!

[AdamD]

I would recommend a newspaper unite as very reliable rather than 100% reliable as one summer in the June Gap, I lost two queens which were both in decent sized nucs before uniting. A week later and they had been killed and emergency queencells resulted.

[MickBBKA]

JoJo, I am talking about all scenarios of Q introduction not just Qless ones. I did have a very defencive colony once that I requeened and when I walked her in they just instantly pounced on her and the massive ball fell into the hive before I could rescue her. Just shut it up and walked away. 5 days later, opened it up and there she was, happy as Larry and lots of frames laid up with eggs