Is my hive doomed now

[JohnnyD]

Hi All

My hive that has had two swarms recently (I think) has been queen less for about 10 days now, i can't see any larvae, i see some clear liquid pollen in some cells, lots of drones and workers but no queen as far as i can see, no new queen cells either, is that not odd ?

Can i do anything to save it, the other 2 hives i got from th swarms seem to be doing OK ATM

Thanks

JD

[chrisjhodges]

Put in a frame of open brood and eggs from another hive
They will make a new Queen if there is not one hiding sonewhere


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[drumgerry]

10 days isn't really long enough to tell anything. Did the swarm(s) leave a queen cell or more than one behind? Was it capped or uncapped? Bear in mind that the virgin queen hatches 7/8 days after capping and then can take a couple of weeks or longer to come into lay. So it's really pretty early days for your hive. Put in a test frame if you like but my bet is they are queenright and no queen cells will be made on it. The clear stuff in the cells is nectar btw!

[gavin]

10 days isn't really long enough to tell anything. Did the swarm(s) leave a queen cell or more than one behind? Was it capped or uncapped? Bear in mind that the virgin queen hatches 7/8 days after capping and then can take a couple of weeks or longer to come into lay. So it's really pretty early days for your hive. Put in a test frame if you like but my bet is they are queenright and no queen cells will be made on it. The clear stuff in the cells is nectar btw!

Agreed. Five weeks after the last swarm is sometimes the time taken for a new queen to start laying. Ten days would be difficult (couple of days for the queen to emerge, four before mating flights, another few before she starts laying).

Nectar sounds likely. If it is a small amount of milky stuff then there are hatched young larvae being fed, but that cannot be the case after 10 days (add three days to the above for the first eggs to hatch).

If at least two swarms have gone already this will be a depleted colony that takes time to build up again. Always wise to head off swarming if you can.

[fatshark]

The weather has been a bit iffy for queen mating over the last fortnight or so … I've got three hives that were in various states of queenlessness. Over the last week all have had frames of eggs added. None have produced queen cells and a check on Friday showed a laying queen (finally) in two of them. I bet if I get a chance to look in the third this afternoon (eggs added on Friday) there will be new eggs on a different frame.

Remember the advice of Yoda, Grand Jedi Master Beekeeper
Have patience, almost certainly a queen present, there is.

[JohnnyD]

Thanks for all your replies, its much appreciated, i think given what has been said, there may be a queen there somewhere, just not laying yet hopefully, other two hives from the swarms seem healthy and with laying queens :)

JD

[Jon]

This document (http://pembsbeekeepers.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/wag_queen_cellseng.pdf) is very good re timelines and swarming.
Your colony will have a virgin queen in it.
I got an e-mail the other week from a beginner who had a queen emerge and was in a panic because there were no eggs 4 days later.
A virgin does not even take an orientation flight until 4-5 days after emergence!
he was looking to buy a queen.
In my experience about 95% of colonies which are supposed to be queenless have a queen in them.
One of the most important aspects of beekeeping is getting your head around the arithmetic of swarming, queen cells and queen mating.
When a swarm is lost it can be 5 or 6 weeks before the box has brood again especially if there is poor control of cast swarms.
The queen which takes over the colony might not even emerge from her cell until 16 days after the prime swarm leaves and she could take 3-4 weeks to mate if the weather is poor.

Does your colony still have queen cells in it by any chance?
What did you do with the queen cells in the colony after the first swarm was lost?

[JohnnyD]

Yey........Laying queen and larvae in the hive now, couldn't see the queen, she was very covert......but lots of larvae

3 hives now :)

JD

[Jon]

Result! Everything comes to he who waits!

[fatshark]

But those who wait a really long time get laying workers ;)

[Jon]

ok
Everything comes to he who waits, including laying workers on occasion!