Queenless colony in late spring

[gavin]

They must have been republicans ........

[Adam]

If there was concern about laying workers in the queenless colony then it could be shaken in front of, say, a couple of hives to boost both; the relatively small abount of bees introduced per hive would mean that there would be minimum chance of any problems.

Eric, I'm not sure about raising a queen as you describe - there would still be a smallish amount of bees - maybe better to strengthen one colony by combining and then produce a queen from that?

[Calum]

Last spring my mentor found that one of his hives was queenless and there were no laying workers. The bees seemed to be quite happy with themselves though & despite a frame of eggs & larvae being added on several occasions they didn't attempt to raise a queen. .

In that case they probably already had an unmated queen. Expaining happiness & non queen raising.

In the end the hive was united with a new colony & still doing well.

Wonder which queen won that fight. Was the queen in the new colony marked?

[EmsE]

In that case they probably already had an unmated queen. Expaining happiness & non queen raising.

He thought that was unlikely as although there had been a little brood raised at the beginning of spring there was no sign at any point of any Queen cells. By mid April the laying stopped & no Queen could be found.

[Eric McArthur]

EmsE wrote:
The bees seemed to be quite happy with themselves though & despite a frame of eggs & larvae being added on several occasions they didn't attempt to raise a queen.
.................................................. ...................
Next time the situation presents; donate a frame of sealed brood, no bees! As I mentioned previously within 12 days there will be many hundreds of new YOUNG bees. If the queenless colony is still quite strong it will be capable of brooding a large patch of brood, a 7” x 6” comb symmetrically laid up will “throw” some 2000+ new bees. These young bees will be looking for a mum; a comb of eggs and open brood will supply the means to do what comes naturally! The trick is to “switch” on the natural functions in the correct order. Your bees were “switched off”.
The second comb as well as giving the colony a mum will provide another 1500+ to 2000+ young bees – making a possible total of 3000+ to 4000+ new bees to swell the “resident population”. Try the procedure – I’ve used it successfully many times over a number of years!

Eric