Queenless in August

[Busy B]

Hi everyone,
I'm a new beek. Reading all my bee books, watching online tutorials ( all American, but amazing) but I desperately need a mentor as I need to learn hands on. I live near Chester, Ellesmere Port and the Wirral, is there anyone in these areas that would give up an hour once a month to help me progress.

Secondly, I think I'm queenless, is it OK to add a new queen now, so late in the year? If so how do you go about it?

Thank you in advance.

[Patrick]

Hi Busy, welcome to the Forum.

Have you attended a local association beginners course? If not, then look on the BBKA website for your nearest division and sign up for one this winter.

Ellesmere Port bit far for me from Somerset but couple of bits of advice I can offer is be a bit cautious of US
online videos - their local conditions can be very different to ours and some are better than others (as anywhere). Advice may not always travel well.

Secondly, at the danger of stating the obvious, why do you think you are queenless? This time of year a lot of nectar flows have stopped and queens gone off lay. If you have removed honey and not fed they may simply be hungry and no eggs being laid. If you can beg a frame with eggs off another hive or beekeeper, put that in and see if they raise any queen cells. It’s called a “test frame”.

If they do, they are indeed queenless and let them raise a new one. If they simply raise them as workers then they should have a queen and are probably fine but might benefit from being fed a gallon of syrup if little or no stores obvious.

Introducing queens to a colony which might already have one is very unlikely to be successful so first step is checking if it is really Queenless before going down that route.

If you are certain it is queenless, there are numerous ways to requeen a hive but it is not always straightforward.

Let us know how you get on.

[AdamD]

If you are a member of your local association, there may be someone who is close to you who can help. However can you tell us what has happened for your bees to possibly be queenless now? Swarm dates and such-like. (And I assume you have just one colony)?

[YETI]

Hi there,
I think I may be Queenless in September. Completed my inspection and there is about 1/2 a frame of brood. No sign of eggs or larvae and I did could not see her. Last inspection was less than 2 weeks ago when there were 4 to 5 frames of brood, a few eggs and some grubs. I have started varroa treatment 3 weeks ago and I know that this could affect laying. There is plenty of space for her to lay in now. I am just worried about going into winter Queenless. The queen was a new queen that they raised after the original queen swarmed in June so she was/is a young queen. I have read that new young queens can fail. I know I need to find the queen (if she is there) but if I can't then I should buy a new queen - right? Thoughts and advice please!

[nealh]

Queens can go off lay or even disappear, if you have more then one hive then you can test for QL by giving a frame of eggs or very young larvae from another colony or ask a local beek from your association if they can help out with a frame to donate. If no QC's are raised then be confident she is there somewhere.
Watch the hive entrance if QR then bees should still be acting as normal and you should see plenty of foragers bring back copius amounts of pollen and generally still behaving in a normal busy manner.

[YETI]

If she has disappeared then I am worried that the colony won't be strong enough going into winter and I will lose the colony again (lost one in 2017). Also, if she has disappered, will the bees not die? Sadly, I only have 1 colony and I have asked help from my association for a frame to test but have had no responses in 3 days.......
I don't get to see the bees during the day and get home at 7pm by which time I can only see 1 or 2 flying out and about because it is getting dark early and cold.

[nealh]

No use assuming this or that.
As she was there a fortnight ago and you had seen eggs then most likely she is still there, was she marked ?

Before you do anything you need to be sure and know if they are QL or not, pointless investing/introducing another queen as one or both may be killed. Badger your local association and ask for someone to have a look with/for you.

[DianeBees]

Badger your local association and ask for someone to have a look with/for you.

This is a great suggestion!

Along with go to any planned apiary sessions your local branch organises. It's always nice seeing how other people inspect hives and you can learn a massive amount.

[Patrick]

What varroa treatment did you use Yeti? As you say some commonly switch queens off. There are several clues to queenlessness other than absence of brood or eggs, including increased defensiveness, a tendency to mass fly off the face of the comb when disturbed and obviously emergency queen cells. It is very easy in poor light to miss a small patch of eggs in darker used comb especially if you do not shake bees off the frame first.

[YETI]

Have been using Thymovar. The application is for 2 x 3 or 4 week periods which means between 6 or 8 weeks off lay. That can't be good in terms of laying eggs for winter bees can it?

I am hoping that I am being too cautious and blind by not seeing her and fretting too much. I am doing an inspection tomorrow with someone from my association - fingers crossed!