That's how I'm feeling about my bees. Just when I thought I had them all established and could relax until the fall harvest I found the second hive had rejected the queen I brought and had been queenless for about 3 weeks. There were no eggs or young larva in the hive. Remember, that’s what happened in my other hive, too.
In this latest crisis, the last time I saw the brought queen was on the 12th. The hive did raise a new queen but that queen hadn’t started to lay eggs yet. And just to make things interesting, it appears that this new queen’s wing maybe damaged. I couldn’t tell if she made her maiden flights to collect sperm or not. If that hasn’t happened, I’m screwed because there wasn't any eggs or young larva to make into a second queen. To top that off I left town right after finding this and couldn't even order and receive a new mated queen to install in the hive. Bummer.
mmm... the best I could do was exactly what I did when my first hive went queenless. I took a comb of eggs and young larva from the other hive and put it in the newly “queenless” one.
That hive had grown and had plenty of eggs to share. Transferring that comb would at least provide eggs and larva so that the girls could raise a new queen if needed. If the young “damaged?” queen I saw wasn’t rejected by the hive and she starts laying I’ve only added additional workers which the hive can use anyway. If the hive raises a new queen and the damaged queen is still there, there will be a fight to the death. Cool huh? I think I have my bases covered.
I won’t be able to tell if this worked or not until I get back from GA next week but at least I don’t have to keep walking by the hives daily and wonder what’s going on inside. Patience is not my strong suite.
I’ll update everyone when I get back home. Take care, Lisa
