# Queen stories.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Had a exciting time a couple of days ago that made me thinK of some queen storys.
About my third year of bee keeping we were at our first out yard checking bees. We had 7 colonies there, about the 3d or 4th one I went into I found lots of queen cells. Being rather new I knew I didn't want the bees to swarm so I started cutting all those cells out I could find . Next thing I knew Kare is telling me she has a queen crawling around in her burr pail. I go to the truck and get a queen cage I had pitched in the catch all box in the truck. I got that queen in the cage. Then Kare sees another one so I get another cage and install her too. Before I left that yard I had 6 caged virgin queens wraped up in a towel and one had flowen while I was trying to cage her.

Not knowing what I should do I called a queen breeder I knew. He told me that virgin queens had no scent so I should make up some nuc's then release the queens in them. Well for some reason that didn't work. 
My thoughts on that today is that those queens act different than worker bees and do have some sort of scent and maybe the nuc had not been queen less long enough. all I know is what ever it was I was not going to try that ever again.

I think it was the next year I did about the same thing cut queen cells out and they started hatching in the burr pail. I stuck them in queen cages installed a cage in a nuc with the entrance to the cage stuffed with burr comb. I manualy released the queens on day four in the nuc. That has worked 98% of the time for me.
Yes even today I let some colonies get ahead of me. But today I look for the hives queen and install her in a nuc with 5 frames of brood. I still on occation will open some queen cells in a hive with a mess of cells and harvest the queens rather than let them be destroyed bu the first emerging queen.

OH the excitement of a couple days ago was a 10 frame full deep I was useing as a nuc since I had ran out of nuc boxes. I opened it on the 27th day to see if the queen had hatched and if she was laying. On the 4th frame I pulled there she was, before I could get the frame back in the hive she flew.
I just stood there and allowed the bees to settle down then closed up the hive hopeing the queen found her way back in.
Yesterday about a week latter I checked and found the nicest bunch of larva in a real nice patteren so I guess she found her way back in the hive.

There are more storys.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Got a call one day from the county extention office they had a swarm at a farm. I am all out of deeps so I grab a couple of medium honey supers I hadn't placed yet. I had heard they were much easier to work with cause they were lighter than deeps so I was experminting with that swarm.

I captured them, they were in two clusters at the top of a corn picker elavator. Once in the boxes I closed them up and took them to our holding yard where they stayed all summer and thru the winter. That queen never did get replaced by the workers so I assume she was young enough to please them.

I did find the 3 mediums a huge pain in the kister when doing inspections.

Came the next spring and doing the first inspection on that colony I didn't see a queen so ordered a pair since I decided I would split the colony in two into deeps. One of those splits had not released the queen in 6 days so I released her on a deep frame with her attendants behind one of my push in cages. A few days latter I was pulling those medium frames from that colony and there was a queen. I set that frame with her in it aside then went ahead and released the queen I had put behind the push in cage. 
The move worked fine. I moved that old queen to a different out yard and she did another year of laying before getting replaced on her third spring.

I guess she wanted to take a 2 week vacation.
I should point out that dark carnie queens are harder to see in a hive at least for me.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

About two weeks ago I am inspection a colony, I see a ball on the bottom edge of the frame that has dimples on it like a queen cell. It even had a redish tint in one area like a queen cell about to hatch. I tell Kare to look at it then cut it off the frame. A queen emerged from it long and smoky colored streaches and starts roaming about in the burr bucket. I tell Kare to cover the bucket till I can get a cage to put her in.
With that done I finish the inspection and put the hive back together.
I get my small 4 fram nuc and go to a strong colony and pull a frame of honey and pollen then 3 frames of brood and eggs and set the new queen in the cage in it. I went out on the third day and released her, they seemed to except her. a week latter I inspect the hive and find she has deepened her color to nearly all black and is laying like gang buster. Saturday evening I was going to put them in a 10 frame deep they were doing so well. I found queen cells started and didn't see the queen but it was in dim light. I left them in the nuc till Sunday morning. I found the queen, plenty of eggs telling me she was laying fine. I took the queen cells and put them in a Nuc I had made up on Saturday I had planed on putting a cell in from my queen rearing nuc. Busy day today as well as Tuesday so I will check and see if the nuc excepted the cell and see how that smoky dark queen is doing still in the 4 frame nuc.

 Al


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## AverageJo (Sep 24, 2010)

So why didn't you put her in the 10-frame like you were originally going to do? If they're making queen cells, shouldn't she have been given more room? Or are you wanting to propogate her genetics? Curiosity....


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I placed her in a 10 frame deep today and they had not built any more cells.

I like to wait and see if they are going to accept a queen in anuc before moving to a deep and inviting wax moth and other pest to a weakened colony.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

this is the first year I raised my own queen ,, this girl is putting other queen's to shame ,, she has more brood then other's I've had and the pattern is perfect , in fact I have never had this good of pattern . less then a inch of honey on the top and sides , of course the Corners have more ,and the bottom frames are the but upside down ( honey on bottom instead of top ) 
Al , and my wife kept telling me to try queens , but I said I didn't know how .


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Went thru a couple more of my colonies with brand new queens Saturday. Once again I came across a colony making queen cells and the queen was laying a great patteren.
Told Kare I was going to take a nuc back to that yard Sunday morning and find the queen and place her in the nuc to bring home.

Been having that happen more this year than any other and can't under stand the reasons. 

Also been finding year old queens missing from hives. Been catching most of them so I can install a new queen before they go laying worker. Lost two colonies so far to that.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

On 7-9-11 I decided to leave the queen cells alone in one of the colonies with the new queen. I also left the new queen in there figureing some thing would work out. Yesterday checking that colony I found the queen cells torn down like happens once a queen hatches and starts laying. Found the queen and she is the orginal queen. She is doing a real nice job in there and there isn't any new cells started. Have one more colony like that new queen with cells. I left them alone on the 20th.

 Al


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## mare (Aug 31, 2006)

alleyyooper said:


> On 7-9-11 I decided to leave the queen cells alone in one of the colonies with the new queen. I also left the new queen in there figureing some thing would work out. Yesterday checking that colony I found the queen cells torn down like happens once a queen hatches and starts laying. Found the queen and she is the orginal queen. She is doing a real nice job in there and there isn't any new cells started. Have one more colony like that new queen with cells. I left them alone on the 20th.
> 
> Al


hmmmmmmmmmm. i thought there were more queen cells in the queenless hive that i have. i just found the one, makes me wonder if i dont already have a queen in there. good info--i love your posts, i learn reading them. talked to another bee keeper at work today and he is having the same issues as i am. losing queens and the bees making honey thru out the frames and thru out the whole box. i am trying not to get bummed and am treating this year as a learning experience. at least i can start with drawn out frames next year. 
does it help to paint the plastic frames with bees wax, do the bees draw them out quicker that way?

can you tell where the queen cells used to be or do they totally take all traces of it off the frame?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

If you had a queen in your hive even with the queen cell there would be signs left by her. Eggs, larva uncapped, brood in different stages for example the older brood caps get darker brown. 

Hate plastic frames and foundation, Ya a strong word I admit just have seen to many problems from new bee keepers with the stuff. I wouldn't give you 38 cents for several box cars of the stuff. Yes by all means paint the plastic foundation with bees wax some times even that won't help the bees except it. Best time to give it to them is in the springwhen the heavy flows are going on. Then they have to go to work on it or just plain miss the boat.

I've been raising my own queen for several years now and this has been one of the weardest I've had.

 Al


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