Opening my only remaining hive (of two alive in the fall) this weekend, I
found absolutely no brood or eggs but a good amount of bees. The
forecast is for some possible snow in the next few days here in
central Michigan, so I am wondering what to do about requeening.
1. Is it safe to assume the queen is gone or dead or do I need to do a
thorough search for a possible non-functioning queen?
2. How warm should it be before I introduce the new queen?
3. If it's too cold when she comes how long can I keep her just
giving her water (and/or syrup...?) through her cage screen?
4. Does it make any sense at all to wait for generally warmer weather to
order a new queen? No laying workers .... yet.
5. Why and how did this happen? Any ideas?
Any other suggestions or thoughts of course would be welcome. I just
don't want to lose this good bunch of bees that have made it this far into
spring. I am leaning toward trying a New World Carniolan from California
for this requeening. Any reason not to? Too far to ship? Possible better
acceptance of another strain?
Thanks for any help offered,
Alden Leatherman
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