Help please. I Can't even find the creek, let alone the paddle!

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It is not an A/S unless in swarm mode. Was this single cell a supercedure cell.

Good enough anyway, as you have a still-laying queen and a queen cell, so some insurance.

If supercedure, I would expect them to make another single cell, maybe a couple or so, to still supercede if the queen is failing. Cross fingers that all goes well and keep checking on the queen+ part at inspections,and in a week to see how the cell is developing. If all is OK then leave until mated and laying.

They will likely come through all this despite the constant upheavel!

Edit: One other thing - you don't go marking your queen early in the season when she may be the best chance of your one and only colony progressing to the summer. Getting April queens mated is a lottery in the UK and marking is always a risky business for inexperienced one hive owners.
 
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It is not an A/S unless in swarm mode. Was this single cell a supercedure cell.

Good enough anyway, as you have a still-laying queen and a queen cell, so some insurance.

If supercedure, I would expect them to make another single cell, maybe a couple or so, to still supercede if the queen is failing. Cross fingers that all goes well and keep checking on the queen+ part at inspections,and in a week to see how the cell is developing. If all is OK then leave until mated and laying.

They will likely come through all this despite the constant upheavel!

Edit: One other thing - you don't go marking your queen early in the season when she may be the best chance of your one and only colony progressing to the summer. Getting April queens mated is a lottery in the UK and marking is always a risky business for inexperienced one hive owners.

Firstly, no I don't think it was a supercedure cell as it was one I missed yesterday. It was one of about 10 in total. The queen doesn't seem to be failing as quantity of brood and brood patterns are good. She is also only last years.

I felt I had to take the chance of marking the queen, as I hadn't seen her in over 6 months, and not being able to spot her was like having one arm tied behind my back. I take your point tho.
 
Well done, beenovice you are back in control again. BTW I would have marked her too. Never know if I see her again is my excuse. Have not had a problem with marking so far. Don't mark virgins though, but some do.
 
I would have marked her too

Does that surprise me? No! Even after nearly 2000 posts you still appear to be a beginner.

Yes, it is only an excuse - not a good reason - and beginners should be learning sensible things which will keep them out of trouble until such times as they are able to work things out for themselves, or be able to extricate themselves from their new errors without too much panic.
 
Beenovice

3) Queen found in top box - woohoo!
4) Queen marked - double woohoo!


Well done! easy peasy from then on

richard

ps

Oliver, unless you are blessed with 20/20 eyesight, 1st day eggs deposited in the bottom of a cell are virtually impossible to see through a veil and only become visible when they fall over......
 
ps

Oliver, unless you are blessed with 20/20 eyesight, 1st day eggs deposited in the bottom of a cell are virtually impossible to see through a veil and only become visible when they fall over......

I find them easy :) an LED torch helps on very dark comb.
Queens are my problem.....must practice more
 
I would have marked her too

Does that surprise me? No! Even after nearly 2000 posts you still appear to be a beginner.

Yes, it is only an excuse - not a good reason - and beginners should be learning sensible things which will keep them out of trouble until such times as they are able to work things out for themselves, or be able to extricate themselves from their new errors without too much panic.

Bit arrogant, perhaps? evidence of queen activity more important to look for than the queen herself?
 
Absolutely right, "beginners should be learning sensible things which will keep them out of trouble" marking queens being a very sensible thing to do and saves a lot of heartache clearly.
Who's counting ...
 
Oliver, unless you are blessed with 20/20 eyesight, 1st day eggs deposited in the bottom of a cell are virtually impossible to see through a veil and only become visible when they fall over......

I can't see a dam thing through mine: I am thinking of letting in a polycarbonate window to see if that helps.
 
Just a quick question following this weeks activities and AS. I called in to see the bees after work, just to see if they were settling. I noticed that the majority of the bee traffic was into the old box( with old comb, brood and QC. Hive 1m to side of original hive site). Very little traffic into the new box with queen on original location. Split was about 80-20.
Is this expected / normal. I would have thought the original location would have been busier.
 
Can't say I am great at finding Q's but since I stopped looking so hard for them I see them easier :)

What I mean is I don't look intensely at the frame but sort of let my eyes go out of focus and then I can see over a much larger area and tend to pick up her movement which is a bit different from the surrounding workers.

That's hard to explain but hopefully you'll get my drift :)
 
Absolutely right, "beginners should be learning sensible things which will keep them out of trouble" marking queens being a very sensible thing to do and saves a lot of heartache clearly.
Who's counting ...

+1

I (my mentor) marked mine too a month ago. As a beginner it's one less thing for me to stress over now as I can find her easily. Which means hive is open less and less stress to the bees and me. Plenty of other things to stress me out though.
 
Is this expected / normal.

Beenovice

You might have visited when there was a lot of 'training flights' going on - which makes the entrance look very busy....don't worry

Do you understand the procedure for switching that hive full of emerging brood to the other side of the H with Q after a week or so?

rich
 
Hi rich, yes I understand that you should move emerging brood hive to opposite side of queen hive so that they find that one instead. I was actually in the process of moving my hive when I had to act on queen cells. It is not in the best of locations as I don't have any room on the other side of the hive. I'll have to see if I can gradually shuffle them across a bit. I presume just swapping hive positions wouldn't work!
 

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