# New year Queens and build up Questions...



## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

Top Bar Hives.Year 2 for me.Fruit trees almost over here/other flowers,etc.

Hive One made it through the winter and has built up to bursting but has not a sign of a queen cell being made. I was sure they were getting ready to swarm-bees all over window and comb to the end- but now after inspecting each bar I guess not.Drone comb but no queen cells at all started. The front of the hive-usual brood nest- was very spotty ,then near the back I found a tight full comb of brood on both sides.....just one....like the queen had moved but was still doing fine. ??? The bees are Super active and defensive (haha-all over my suit when I messed with them!)and have filled spaces I made within days with new comb this last month ,etc but I'm not sure if I should get a new queen or wait to see what they are doing.....

Hive 2 just installed April 16 is building some nice comb,on the tops of 5 bars but none built up to fill their space, but when I looked today all I saw was open syrup/nectar and pollen.....no capped brood. It's hard for me to see eggs or tiny larvae(full suit plus glasses) but all I saw were nectar partially filled cells and pollen. Last year I had capped brood and larvae from the first week in hive one and both are Carnies.. Is she just slow or not even there? The bees are flying and clustering as if they have a queen but would they do that anyway???? It's nice weather. They've taken syrup too. They are not lethargic,but not building comb Real fast either. Experience anyone? My first install and queen last year were VERY fast to have capped brood... so now I'm confused....as usual!

PS-I Never see my actual Carniolan queens ....it just seems to be to hard for me to See them (thank goodness I know from bee forums I'm not the only one!..........)

Thank You for any ideas,tips,etc!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Take a frame of brood with eggs from the other hive and put it in there. You probably should go to a hobby store or some other place and get a pair of magnifying glasses So you can see eggs. If you put eggs in the new hive and they are queen less they should build queen cells pretty fast.

 Al


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

I finally broke down and bought a big magnifying glass in order to see eggs. I agree. If in doubt give them some eggs to work with. This to me is the biggest drawback of top bar hives....it is more difficult to swap comb with another hive. I hope you built them both to the same specs. 

This is my first year with carniolans. I think the black queens are beautiful, but danged they are hard to spot! I don't have any trouble spotting golden queens. I am thinking of marking my black queens just to save time. I spend twice as long looking for my black queens. Now that I have over 40 hives...and due to the way they were formed as nucs I am currently fighting swarming and need to check every couple of days for queen cells....time is becoming a factor.


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## TxRPLS (Jan 27, 2014)

I think one of my nucs was queenless when I got it but had plenty of eggs. Since then, I have found four queen cells and one looks likely to emerge any day. The remaining 3 cells are smaller. The hive population is smaller than the one next door where I could find the queen. Do I need to do anything with the other queen cells? Would they cause swarming if left alone?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

No you don't need to do a thing with the cells. The first queen to hatch will do that. 

 Al


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Just hope that the first queen to hatch is the one from the bigger cell. I have removed very small queen cells. There is a bit of debate on the issue, but generally it is agreed that the bigger the queen cell the better nourished the queen. I am after top quality queens, so I don't mind sacrificing a few queen cells.


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## beegrowing (Apr 1, 2014)

Hi again from OP. 
Thank you for the replies!
It's funny, but last week's inspection was the Very First time that I was prepared "ahead" of what my bees were actually doing! In hindsight I guess I'm glad I finally wasn't "behind" like I felt All year last year. :happy:
No queen cells in Hive 1 confused me since I had swarms last year when the same hive got that full. Well, today queen cells Were In there,one capped,affirming their preparation to swarm, and 
I did my first split into a nuc !!!
Another beek landmark day for me! yay And I hope I'll have 3 hives going into winter.

The slow building hive I haven't done anything with yet. They are foraging well and I think I was probably just "ahead" of that hive Too last week. :smack 
I'll inspect them again this week and I bet I'll see capped brood. I had to attend to the overcrowded hive first though. 

Yeah I guess a huge magnifier I can see with,even through my veil, would do wonders! I usually have my reading glasses down my nose so I can look through Or over them, but it's not good enough for eggs or tiny larvae.
Used to have eagle-eyes.....sigh.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Congratulations on making your first split! 

I have also found that sometimes just checking again in a few days to a week the hive has a completely different perspective. I have a few hives that I have never seen the queen in. I know she is there because there are neatly placed eggs. One of the hives I thought was queenless because she had not started laying well yet(all my queens are this years hatching) but when I left them alone for a week it was obvious that she was in there and mated. Maybe I'll spot her today. I'm going to take my queen marking kit with me just in case


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