Hello everybody,

I’m from the Philippines. Six weeks ago I made a three
frame nuc and introduced a young mated queen imported
from Australia. Upon inspecting it after six weeks I
found a normal looking queen and some sealed brood but
no eggs or unsealed brood.

Let me give you some background first so that you can
analyze my situation better.

The queen (Carniolan) came in a queen cage and after
three days was already released and was already
laying. The three frames were  two almost sealed brood
and one honey frame. The average temperature for this
period was 32-34 deg C and maximums of 35-36 deg C.
The humidity was also high. The temperature was a
little less when I introduced the queen, it was from
29-32 deg C. The hive was the conventional Langstroth
hive with a solid inner cover. The entrance was
reduced to about an inch. No treatments were
administered during this period. There is also a honey
flow.

I’m assuming that the sealed brood was the offspring
of the new queen since it only takes 21 days for the
brood to immerge and it is already going to its second
cycle of brood.

After I located the queen I observed it for awhile.
The queen was calm and was seen inspecting the cells
and was in the process of laying,  inserting her
abdomen into each cell. The only problem was she was
doing it so fast that only half her abdomen enters the
cell and then she retracts it. She was observed doing
it on every open cell but no eggs were being
deposited.

The brood pattern was also patchy but maybe it was due
to chalkbrood since there were mummies on the bottom
board and in front of the entrance.

I also introduced three other queens with no problem.
The only difference was the hive type. The three other
hives were with a migratory hive cover without an
inner cover.
There were also four one inch ventilation holes in it.

I was wondering what factors could have affected the
queen to produce this kind of behavior (high temp?).

Could the lesser ventilation made it difficult for the
bees to maintain the hive temperature as to affect the
queen?

I know that I have to change the queen but I need to
know what might have caused it to avoid future
occurrences.

I will try to change the cover and see if it does any
good. Maybe it has affected the queen to a point of no
cure? Will see how it goes.

Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

Thank you and God bless.

Neon Resell II
Cainta, Rizal
Philippines







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