I set out this morning determined to find the queen in my second hive. Four days ago when we checked the hive it was so skimpy compared to the other hive that I thought the queen was gone. What a difference four days can make.
Now for my disaster... We decided since we were already at the hives to open up our "good" one just to see if we could find the queen. There is so much activity in this one and more frames are drawn with lots of capped brood cells so we know she is there but again...lots of tunnels and hiding places so we did not see her.
After we looked at a few frames I hung one on the frame holder. It was full of bees, more than half drawn out with comb and lots of capped brood. I heard a loud angry buzzing and looked down and the entire wall of wax, brood and bees had turned loose from the frame and hit the ground. OK...I have not seen or read about this situation. Why did this happen? We didn't know what to do. I picked it up and laid it on the frame it fell from and then placed an empty frame on top of it and put it back in the hive. I don't know if the bees will repair it or not or if it is one mass on the bottom of the frame now.
We did get to see something very exciting...at least to us. When I was holding one frame of brood we saw several baby bees chewing holes and emerging from their cells.
oh crap Mamma - i don't know what to say except to wait for PioneerP to come and explain it all. i hope everything will turn out ok. my fingers are crossed for you.
ReplyDeletePioneerP - where are you? (sending bat signal to PioneerP from the top of vandura)
your friend,
kymber
Thanks kimber....this hive is doing so well it will only be a matter of a week maybe before they have all that brood replaced if they can't fix the broken one. I am just curious as to why it happened and worried that the queen could have possibly have been on that frame when it all slid to the ground. I will wait a week and open the hive and see if I can find fresh bee eggs. Those are thrilling to find!
DeleteMB - If the queen was killed the hive will begin making a very loud roaring/buzzing sound. If she simply fell on the ground she will return to the hive on her own and if she is close to the hive and outside the foragers will surround her like a swarm. The best indication will be the very loud roar though and believe me you will know it if you hear it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the comb falling off I cannot say I have ever had that problem. From the pics you seem to be using foundation frames so it must have been a section that was only barely attached. Is there capped brood on both sides of the loose comb?
If there is you may want to simply place the comb in the bottom of the hive and let the girls hatch out the young and then re-use the wax. If there is brood on only one side you could attach it back to a foundation frame with rubber bands or something. If it was larger you could take a frame without the foundation and rubber band it in making a nice start to a foundationless frame the girls could use for drones and might lessen the burr comb.
Since you said the brood was capped I wouldn't be too worried about the queen being on that particular portion. She will more than likely be on a frame with fresh eggs that are uncapped and impossible to see with the naked eye. There is no reason the handler bees would direct the queen to a capped section because there is nothing for her to do there. But yes some queens like to run and hide wherever they can.
Preppy...they only made a loud noise when it fell to the ground. Once I picked it up they settled down. They stayed on the comb while I placed it back in the hive with another frame over it. You think I should go back out tomorrow and try to rubber-band it or leave it alone for a week or so and see what they do? I only looked at one side of it. Most was capped. There was some new looking comb that was open and could have had eggs (didn't look for them) but I think the majority of it was capped.
DeleteI actually did not turn it over to look at it so I don't know if there was brood on both sides. I was just in a panic to get the comb and bees back into the hive in case the queen was still on it somewhere and that's when I started thinking...what if she was on it and crushed when it fell. Sheesh... I always think the worst.
MB - In picture 3 lower left hand side (almost to the corner) but int he shadows on the plastic foundation and therefore below the level of the comb they are building. Do you see the back part of that bee. I can;t be sure but it looks like a queen abdomen to me. Looks rather thin to be a drone but it is longer than a drone.
ReplyDeleteOh my...I think you are right. She looks very queenly to me!
DeleteOh ya and my guess is the comb came off because that hive appears to like to make free standing comb that is barely attached to the frame. I am not real sure how to fix this until they actually make a good frame you can then begin using as a guide to get the others straightened out. As I said the problem is that the space in between the foundation areas is larger than bee space and therefore allows the girls more room to screw it up. Once you have a nice straight frame you can begin placing the barely attached frames on the outside for them to either fix or fill with honey.
ReplyDeleteFor just a moment I thought it was so frigging hot that my comb was melting! I am just not going to worry about that brood box any longer as long as I know the queen is there and doing what she is supposed to do. I just hope they behave when I get to put the honey supers on.
DeleteThe more I look at that abdomen the more I think that is your queen. I know the ones I have on foundation wooden frames like yours like to hang out on the edge like that one is doing and then run to the side away from me constantly. It appears yours is doing just that but from the angle of the pic that abdomen looks as long as the whole nurse bees next to her.
ReplyDeleteI enlarged that picture and zoomed in on it. I think I can see a faint marking on her as well. You found my queen!
ReplyDeleteDo you have an update? What's the buzz? (sorry)
ReplyDeleteKris
http://krissimplyliving.blogspot.com
Sorry to be so very late in replying. I have had serious issues with Google and Blogger.
ReplyDeleteMy bees are doing fine. I had my first inspection from the Department of Agriculture last week and passed with flying colors so I am now a legal bee keeper...LOl