4 weeks from swarm, and no brood - should I worry?

[madasafish]

I have three mating nucs with queens hatched 19th June and still not laying. Polished cells though.

Weather here has been a mix of very rainy and cold days (14-15C) and warmish (22c tops).A huge change from 2010 when I started - dry and hot summer.

My personal view:
The whole lesson of the past 2 years for newish beekeepers is always to have a couple of nucs on the go with queens mated in case of emergencies in spring. So splits/queen rearing the prior summer is a MUST - unless you want to buy new queens every year - or loose lots of honey.

I have 3 nucs plus a mating nuc for 4 full size TBHs - a ratio which seems ideal in the last couple of years.

 

[Tom Bick]

And you lost 2 generations of brood and the whole yield of season.
Which is valuable, one queen or whole year.

6 weeks + 3 weeks that eggs emerge? = 2 months!

What value presents patience . Beatles Let it be, Let it Be

I think most beekeepers understand the figures Finman and no harm in seeing them spelt out. To a hobby beekeeper they are perhaps acceptable and a risk worth taking but obviously to you with your commercial hat on madness they call it madness.

You will have to live a long time to understand us fully.

 

[beeno]

I have three mating nucs with queens hatched 19th June and still not laying. Polished cells though.

Weather here has been a mix of very rainy and cold days (14-15C) and warmish (22c tops).A huge change from 2010 when I started - dry and hot summer.

My personal view:
The whole lesson of the past 2 years for newish beekeepers is always to have a couple of nucs on the go with queens mated in case of emergencies in spring. So splits/queen rearing the prior summer is a MUST - unless you want to buy new queens every year - or loose lots of honey.

I have 3 nucs plus a mating nuc for 4 full size TBHs - a ratio which seems ideal in the last couple of years.

Hi madasafish,
Yes, and you are well within three weeks! That has been the lesson for us all - bad year not enough bees to even buy!

 

[beeno]

Hi Finman,
We hear you load and clear and on a commercial basis that's what you would do. However, most of us are hobbyists on the forum and don't sell our honey or we may in a good year when every idiot gets a bit of honey. A bit like any other business - in a boom everyone makes money in a recession only the ones with strong business acumen survive! Hope you have a good season and thanks for your educational input on the forum.

 

[Finman]

Hope you have a good season and thanks for your educational input on the forum.

You are wellcome heheh heheh

When a queen normally hatches, it takes 10 days that eggs will be in the hive.

at the ager of 4 weeks you will get drone layers.

Yes, I almost understand you social small talk, which has no meaning. Just kill time. "I saw a drone. Is it going to happen now"

 

[Finman]

I think most beekeepers understand the figures Finman and no harm in seeing them spelt out..

And they seems to keep their mouth shut

.

.

 

[nikca]

I had 2 hives at 4 weeks from sealed cells about a month ago: It was an A/S gone a bit pear shaped when I couldn't find the original queen in a 14x12 sat on top of a national with 2 supers on... which was FULL even when everyone was out foraging! (we are in front of you in SW France).

Rang my mentor in a panic - he advised since the weather had been so crap (yup - it rained for much of May) not to worry for a week or 10 days yet. A week later I did another inspection and found not just eggs bit also some larvae and a small amount of sealed brood. Which just goes to show that a) it can take a while for the queen to get going, maybe the bees slow her down when they know they cannot forage, the beek might be a dufus and miss 20 or so cells with eggs in 22 sides of comb... any number of things.

Give it another week and use the time to source a test frame should you need it...

The 14x12 part of this now has 7 frames of BIAS and only the outer 2 frames with little activity - I might super this next week as the massive lime at the back of the house is coming into flower. The national BB has brood on 6 frames and is slower as it had less bees - but looks like it too might need a super before the end of July... Keep your chin up - it can all turn back around fast if the sun shines!

Nik

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes, I almost understand you social small talk, which has no meaning. Just kill time.

We are truly honoured that you condescend to waste your valuable time on our humble forum and for us to have your erudite and sagely wisdom bestowed upon us.
I daily stab myself in the thigh with a rusty marlin spike to remind me how lucky I am

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

thanks for your educational input on the forum.

What?
Bye new queen
take out excluder
no honey no money
Blah blah blah blah blah
Cheesy youtube clip

 

[Chris Luck]

I'm forever having to clean my computer screen and keyboard reading this forum.....

....I really must remember to not read it with my with mouth full.

Chris

 

[Finman]

What?
Bye new queen
take out excluder
no honey no money
Blah blah blah blah blah
Cheesy youtube clip

You have a gift to laugh on your own jokes.

And what about your these guys. second year, 1 or 2 hives and knows everything.

It is a miracle.

 

[nikca]

I'm forever having to clean my computer screen and keyboard reading this forum.....

....I really must remember to not read it with my with mouth full.

Chris

Well: WE knew you couldn't keep your mouth shut Chris!

 

[Chris Luck]

Well: WE knew you couldn't keep your mouth shut Chris!

You be careful, you're only one hive better than a two hive owner and the rules are that two and three hive owners are only allowed to ask questions and wait patiently for one of the Gods to tell you what's what.

Chris

 

[Finman]

wait patiently for one of the Gods to tell you what's what.

Chris

Look, if you find something here

http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/worldjokes/francejokes.html

This is wonderfull


Q: How does every French joke start?
A: By looking over your shoulder.

and this

Q: How do you brainwash a Frenchman?
A: Fill his underpants with water.

.

 

[Chris Luck]

Can't argue with you about the French, it's the only thing wrong with France, the country is totally wasted on them......

.....But as Lauren says in the French lesson "I ain't French"

Bovvered? Get it?

Chris

 

[peteinwilts]

if honey and profit is your aim, check to make sure there is a queen or not (test frame), You will know within a small number of days, then buy a queen.

if just enjoying the bees is your aim, check to make sure there is a queen or not (test frame), You will know within a small number of days, then let nature do its thing.



Although I appreciate to some people, the honey and profit (or non-loss!) is important. For me, it is a great feeling to have a hive that was failing, to create a QC, hatch, and a new queen that starts to lay like crazy.

I have seen more failed QC's than I care to admit. If you go down the QC route, leave at least two within close proximity. If they are a distance apart, I tend to only leave one and take the risk (if it fails, I have enough bees to bail them out)

 

[Finman]

.
Queen problems may appear when ever. That is why I try to keep all the time spare queens. One or two hive owners the idea is strange but fault may happen to what ever queen.


.

 

[Rover Girl]

Thanks for all the help - there is Brood in hive 2 (the cast of 18th June) - hooray! Nothing in hive one though, so looking to re-queen that, or maybe unite the 2?

 

[Swarm]

Be patient and wait.

 

[Finman]

Thanks for all the help - there is Brood in hive 2 (the cast of 18th June) - hooray! Nothing in hive one though, so looking to re-queen that, or maybe unite the 2?

It is better to unite. They have soon only old bees. Now they start to forage and they are usefull.

It is time to harvest honey.

Start with fresh bees later a nuc and get a laying queen.

If somebody starts to lay, propably it makes drones.



.