Hi,
I recently setup a two frame observation hive and I am having problems
getting a queen in the hive. This is my first year as a beekeeper. I have a
regular hive and I though it would be educational to have an observation
hive. On the advise of a local beekeeper, I put a frame of brood and eggs
along with a bunch of bees in the observation hive so that they could make
their own queen. Unfortunately, my hive had a bad Varroa mite infestation
and most of the brood emerged deformed. I put some Apistan strips in my main
hive and in the observation hive and the Apistan did quite a number on the
mites. The bees had made some queen cells, but I was worried that the
newly-forming queen would also be deformed. I spoke with the beekeeper and
he had just captured a small swarm. He gave me the swarm, which he though
had a queen. After I introduced the swarm, I could not find a queen anywhere
and after a week there were no eggs or larvae. Last week, I bought a queen
and put the cage in the observation hive. After five days the queen emerged
from the cage and I started to get my hopes up, but when I checked the hive
a few hours later, I saw the queen dead on the bottom of the hive. The bees
must have balled her. I still haven't seen any eggs or larvae, so I'm pretty
sure that there is no queen or laying workers. Is this too late in the
season to start a hive? Is there something else I can do to get the bees to
accept a queen? My main hive is a good distance away from my home, so it
will not be easy for me to get another frame of brood and eggs. If I can't
get a queen in the hive, should I just let them live until the colony dies
out or would it be OK to put these bees in my main hive. Since these bees
are of unknown origin, would I be risking contaminating the other bees? If
this colony doesn't survive, I plan on trying again next spring with a
purchased queen and a frame with eggs and larvae.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Michael Sullivan