On Jul 26,  9:14am, STEVE PHILLIPS wrote:
> Subject: Swarming then queenless
> In the area I live, northeast Kansas, swarming has been unusually bad
> for everyone, I guess because it was an unusually wet spring.  The
> swarms were all very late for this area, all after June 1.  Five of my six
> hives swarmed, one in mid July.
>
> All of my hives that swarmed ended up queenless.  I have heard many
> other beekeepers in the area have had the same  problem.  What causes
> queenlessness after a swarm.  My hives that swarmed all had empty
> queen cells in them.  Where did the queens go?
>
>                                              -Steve Phillips-
>                                                -Perry, KS-
>                                         [log in to unmask]
>-- End of excerpt from STEVE PHILLIPS
 
 
Hi Steve,
 
You're not alone.  We had a very poor spring in Western Washington.  It rained
from February through part of June, almost nonstop.  I had the same problem as
you in five out of eight hives.  Swarm, empty queen cells, queenless.  I
ordered new queens for these colonies in June, now they're doing better.
 Several other in my bee club had identical problems.  Does anyone out there
know what causes this?
 
Kris Bruland
Member of Mt. Baker Beekeepers Association
Bellingham, WA  U.S.A.