Hive inspection and box reversal

[Happy Chooks]

Bad news on the split. I have a laying worker. There is only drone brood in the hive now and the queen cells didn't hatch.

So now, I'll be adding a frame of open brood every week for 3 weeks from the main hive. I have to be careful to make sure I don't have the queen on those frames.

 

[Latestarter]

So sorry Chooks...

Since this is my first year and I have no idea of nectar flow patterns or anything else, I've decided to just leave the one hive alone and let it die out. I don't think there are enough bees left in there to re-queen it successfully at this point. The other hive seems to be flourishing and I don't want to take the chance on slowing it down, damaging it or killing it as well. Maybe I'll go out and open them both tomorrow and see. I put the 2nd deep on the good hive last weekend and I really need to go see if they've moved up into it. If they have, I may be putting a super on... Just not sure.

With all the reading and study I did before hand, I still feel like I know nothing Nothing seems to be like the books and info I read. <sigh> oh well... it's all a learning experience...

 

[Happy Chooks]

Nope, nothing is like the books. Every time I think I know something, the bees find a way to surprise me.

Sorry one of your hives isn't doing well.

Michael Bushes website says that if you add a frame of brood once a week for 3 weeks, it will suppress laying workers and they will raise a new queen. So that is what I'm going to do.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Hang in there Happy Chooks - The bees will straighten it out just as Michael says.

 

[babsbag]

Can you buy a queen? I don't know if that would stop the laying worker or not...just an idea.

 

[Maggiesdad]

A queen and open worker brood would be double plus good...

 

[Happy Chooks]

Can you buy a queen? I don't know if that would stop the laying worker or not...just an idea.

Once you have a laying worker, they think they have a queen, so they won't accept a new one and will kill her. So I need to add a frame of brood every week to suppress the pheromone for the laying worker and they will make a queen from the eggs I give them.

 

[babsbag]

Ahh yes, I remember reading that now that you have refreshed my memory.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I checked in the split today. They started to make queen cells from the frame of eggs I gave them last week. I went through the main hive and found 3 capped queen cells. One was on a frame just loaded with eggs, so that is the one I moved over to the split. The queen cell is dark in color, so it shouldn't be long until it hatches. Fingers crossed for a great queen!

My main hive still has 2 capped cells. Hopefully just supersedure, and not swarm. Eggs in the hive and that they still have room doesn't indicate swarming.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Good luck!