15 Day Inspection

[Peanut]

I checked all my new hives today, actually on day 16. 4 hives looked good, 2 to 3 frames of capped brood in each. One had 3 1/2 frames of capped brood. I could not find any of the queens but they were obviously there and doing fine.

My weak hive (a lot of dead loss in the package) had no capped brood. I found only 6 cells that were capped and they were at the top edge of the frame, I think honey. This was also in that hive two funny looking cells on two different frames. Thoughts?

[OldMech]

I do see some capped honey at the top, and a queen cup.. bees will make lots of those and just as often destroy them.. if you can look into it and see there is an egg or larvae, then it becomes a queen cell...
   I am a little confused by what i see in the center of the cells.. at first glance, they looked like giant eggs. Do those cells have nectar in them causing that effect?
   No eggs in that box at all? Did you see a queen?
   If that was my hive, I would give them a frame of open brood with eggs and young larvae and see what they do with it. If they pull queen cells I would get another queen, OR, if you have the resources from the other hives, give them a couple more frames of capped brood once they start drawing the queen cells and let them requeen themselves..   A purchased queen will be MUCH faster and you do not have to take resources from your other hives that are building up.
   A lot depends on if there are eggs, if there is a queen. You dont want them to go to the laying worker stage.

[Peanut]

Thanks OldMech. I went to town after I checked the hives. I bought a hand magnifying lens with a led light on it. I?m going to find out what exactly is up with that hive. It was overcast earlier today and my eyes aren?t what they used to be. I couldn?t clearly see what was in the cells. Tomorrow I?ll be able to! Will post back then.

[Peanut]

It has rained all day, so much for opening the hive. As a precaution I contacted David at Lookout Mtn Honeybee. He is getting a shipment of queens Tuesday night. Since I bought my packages from him he offered to split the cost of a new queen, nice of him. I can drive up Wednesday and get a new queen.

I installed the package on 14apr. There was no visible larva or capped brood in the hive. After 16 days there should be something visible as in the other 4 hives. David was sure they had killed the first queen. I still have two days to go through the hive with my magnifying glass if it stops raining. If not I have a queen with my name on her if needed.

[GSF]

Peanut

When I don't see the queen or queen signs I look for a patch of dry cells. Mainly in the middle of a nectar filled frame. This usually means they have cleaned an area out for laying. The next riddle to solve is, Who's laying? a queen or workers? Sometimes a new queen will spin her wheels getting started.

[Peanut]

Okay, this is the 19th day since I installed a package. On day 16 I could see no larva or eggs. Now I see eggs and larva. Some cells have more than one eggs. I saw 5 or 6 of those. I saw many more with single eggs. My magnifying glass works. There were larva on both sides of one frame. I still saw no queen. Thoughts?

[Psparr]

I'd wait till they cap that larvae and see if it's all drone.

[cao]

I'd wait till they cap that larvae and see if it's all drone.

I second that.

Sometimes a new queen will spin her wheels getting started.

This is also very true.  And that's why I would wait.

[Peanut]

I waited a week to see the caps. This is what I found... Drone brood, 3 frames of it. How do I fix this mess?

[Psparr]

Get a queen.

[Peanut]

Since this is no longer an inspection situation I am starting a new thread with an appropriate title.