Dud queen?

[Easy beesy]

Hi all. Been lurking for a while, looking and listening, but am now stumped and need advice. I have a colony with a beautiful looking queen but she's not laying. Before you all go 'here's another one', I have been waiting patiently for 4 weeks, having already waited two weeks after emergence to mark her. I have tried a test frame of eggs/larvae but the bees did nothing with it, so they seem happy enough with her but still no laying no polished cells nothing. Is it time to give up on my beautiful queen or is there a way of nudging her into lay?

Thanks for any suggestions given
Caroline

[gavin]

Hi Caroline

I don't have the answer - my own queen raising this year has been disappointing. Is it too late? Not totally, especially if it is only four weeks from emergence. There is still a chance. Marking her was a mistake as you should leave her alone until she has been laying a while. It is quite likely that this queen hadn't been out on mating flights when you painted her. That might contribute to poor mating, but then again it ain't necessarily so. So I wouldn't give up yet but there isn't much to do except wait.

Gavin

[Easy beesy]

Hi Gav
Speedy reply - are u here permanently or is it raining again!

I marked her after her appearance changed - she filled out, lengthened and slowed down. Was I wrong to assume the changes meant she had been mated?

How about feeding 1:1 to try stimulating her?

Caroline

[Jon]

I don't like to mark or clip until a queen has been laying for a while. I marked and clipped one a few days after she started to lay and they balled her.
4 weeks is pushing it. If she doesn't start to lay within a day or two my guess is that she will be a drone layer.l

[Adam]

I have a queen that emerged on 25 May. She went into the freezer this month. She too grew and 'looked' like she should be laying but never did.

I think it unlikely that your queen will be a good queen now. What options do you have for the colony assuming she is a duff one?


I perfer not to mark or clip until later. (They wriggle more when they're young too).

[The Drone Ranger]

Marking is good but it makes you lazy I usually mark half a dozen workers wings and a couple of drones just to keep it interesting
Rain Cold Usual grrrrr

[Kate Atchley]

Caroline, sadly I think you have a dud queen.

The queens mated here have all taken four weeks - give or take a day or two - to come into reliable lay this Summer. I'd hoped it would be faster especially as the weather was good, but the darling creatures know best ... they're very good at what they do!


I also prefer not to mark queens early on ... usually leaving it until the following Spring, before the colony builds up.

Kate

[The Drone Ranger]

With a drone laying queen this early in the season (in Scotland anyway)
Can the hive be saved ?

[Jon]

I would remove the queen and combine it with another colony if there is a reasonable amount of bees in it.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Jon

Thanks I'm sure you are right that would be the best option
http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/showthread.php?1162-Any-casualties-yet/page23
Just hoping something might save the hive as it the chaps last one
If a queen was available maybe a push in cage do you use them ?