PDA

View Full Version : Supersedure queen question



buchaness
24-08-2017, 09:44 AM
If a supersedure queen doesn't mate and the original queen is still there and laying do the bees see to the new queen or is it worth finding her and removing her? I have this going on, With my queen mating record it is very unlikely she has mated but just wondering

Jon
25-08-2017, 10:07 PM
The daughter can fail to mate and will become a drone layer. No problem at the moment but can be a problem if you encounter this in early spring.
As long as the old queen is still laying you are ok.

buchaness
28-08-2017, 01:34 PM
Ok thanks

Adam
29-08-2017, 11:28 AM
I saw this in spring with a colony that had two queens a few years' ago. There were just two frames of brood - one of drone and one of worker. The old queen looked a bit uncared for. I decided to leave them to it with the view that bees know best. However on this occasion they didn't and after a week or two, the old queen had gone and all I had was drone eggs being laid so the bees made the wrong choice!

buchaness
29-08-2017, 01:33 PM
Aye it is a hard one to know whats best, On a good note I had another queen with mating sign the other week. Was above a snelgrove board seeing what would happen, so fingers crossed. If it showed up early enough to combine with another hive it shouldn't be a problem, And thanks for the info