Author Topic: what would you do??  (Read 1003 times)

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Offline rober

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what would you do??
« on: May 26, 2017, 05:58:35 pm »
I got a hive out of a fallen tree last sunday. while removing comb I found the queen, put her in a clip, & put her in the hive when I got them home. when I removed this hive there was not a single cell of brood. none. since being hived she still has not laid any eggs.
I have a split that absconded & left behind a new unreleased queen. since the one queen is not laying & this caged queen needs to be dealt with asap i'm considering snuffing the queen from the tree & installing the caged queen. I am not trying to rush anything but since there was no brood in the tree it looks like this queen from the tree is a dud.

Offline Perry

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Re: what would you do??
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2017, 07:57:13 pm »
I wonder if the colony in the tree was being led by a virgin after it swarmed? It could explain the lack of eggs if she has not mated yet.
On the other hand, if you have a good mated queen, I think I would add her to that colony after removing the tree queen and a couple of frames of bees and nuc them just to see if she might yet lay eggs.
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Offline rober

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Re: what would you do??
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2017, 07:58:40 am »
I do not know the hive's history. it was one of several I removed from fallen trees after a storm. i'd come to the same conclusion as you. i'll put the non layer in a cage & hold over over a queen excluder over a hive until I have time to go to my outyard & make a split. none of the hives here at the house can spare any bees just now. a hive I vacuumed out of a fireplace vent has a queen that is an egg laying machine.

Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: what would you do??
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2017, 12:54:06 pm »
Rober, i reluctantly agree with Knucklehead :sad: If the non laying queen is a virgin and not bred, i think they only have nine? days  after they emerge? So i would introduce her ASAP. Jack

Offline rober

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Re: what would you do??
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2017, 01:16:02 pm »
I went thru the rescued hive several times & could not find a queen so I started a nuc with the caged queen figuring I could combine them later. looked thru the hive again & still cannot find this queen but guess what, she started laying. there is 1 frame with brood ( not a lot ) on both sides of the frame & several queen cells. so it looks like the girls worked it out on their own. so with the new nuc I'm up to 27 hives & counting. I keep getting calls for cutouts but no swarms.

Offline Lburou

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Re: what would you do??
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2017, 01:49:52 pm »
You have come a long way on your bee journey rober, keep it up!   :yes:
Lee_Burough