I am having problems re-queening a hive.
I took a split off of my buckfast hives that were getting ready to
swarm. I ordered a new queen, and when she arrived, I removed the last
queen cell, and placed the queens into the hives with the corks still in
place. the next day, when I went to remove the corks, the bees were still
being very hostile towards the queens, so I left the corks in, Inspected
again for queen cells (Found none)and waited two more days.
Two days later, It seemed to be accepting the queen so I removed the
cork, and left them alone for about ten days. When I went back in, I found
the cage empty, but no sign of the marked queen- no eggs, nothing.
The next day I gave them a comb of brood with a queen cell on it, some
open larvae and eggs, and a second queen cell just in case. One week later
I found the brood sealed, and both queen cells torn down. I hoped that the
virgin was still there, so I waited a couple days.
I gave them another frame of eggs and brood, just in case. One week
later, more sealed brood- no queen cells, no eggs.
Last week I gave them another frame of eggs, and once again, they
refused to build any queen cells! I searched the entire hive and there is
no brood but that I gave them, (Sealed now) and no eggs anywhere!
In desperation, I removed 8 frames of bees to weaken this hive, gave
them frames of foundation in their place, and put a strong nuc on top with
newspaper.
I am afraid to look and see if they kill this queen too! How long should
I wait before I check? If they do kill her, should I evict them? I am
afraid they will move into other hives and kill the queens!
This is a strong split, that even after removing bees mostly fills two
hive bodies. They are gathering nectar and building comb.
What next?
Thanks!!
Ellen
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