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Author Topic: LW maybe?  (Read 1347 times)

Offline Nock

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LW maybe?
« on: May 18, 2020, 03:38:24 pm »
Checked in on a swarm I caught in a trap. Been two weeks since I caught them. First time in. This is the one where majority of bees were in trap. But I found a small softball cluster out on the ground. So I assumed maybe multiple Queens. The small cluster is doing fine. Queen is laying. The hive with the majority looks to have a laying worker. I didn?t see the Queen but was finding multiple eggs sometimes 3 or 4 in cells. But the eggs are in the bottom of cells so could this possibly be a young queen still trying to get straightened out?  I was thinking LW eggs would be on the cell walls. Should I give them a few more days and check?  If I still can?t locate the Queen and seeing multiple eggs what should I do?  Will they expect eggs if I give them a frame so they can make QC?  Or should I try to paper combine with a smaller hive?  Or shake them?  Thanks

Offline iddee

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2020, 03:57:07 pm »
Wait one week and check again. If multiple eggs then, shake them out.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline guitarstitch

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2020, 04:27:36 pm »
Eggs on the bottom of the cell is most likely a new queen showing her...excitement in her new role.

Also, if you have "a" laying working, you have multiple laying workers.
-Matthew Pence/Stitch

Offline Will C.

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2020, 09:13:24 pm »
Laying worker eggs don't stand on end.  They'll be scattered in bottom of cells. 

Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2020, 12:05:10 pm »
Nock, if the comb is new and short, I have seen LW lay on bottom center of a cell just like a queen would lay.  Is the comb new?  Agreed multiple eggs is LW,  I have seen new queens lay 2 eggs  in a cell but not very many cells had two eggs.
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline TheHoneyPump

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LW maybe?
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2020, 01:39:30 pm »
+1 to what iddee says.
Do nothing, wait.  If again multiple eggs at next check then paper combine them on top of a strong hive, OR shake them out and completely remove the equipment so they have to beg into other hives. 
When the lid goes back on, the bees will spend the next 3 days undoing most of what the beekeeper just did to them.

Offline Nock

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2020, 02:32:13 pm »
Van it is new comb. I?ll give them some time and check again. Thanks everyone.

Offline AR Beekeeper

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2020, 04:30:24 pm »
The cappings on the pupa is what will tell the tale when you check again. 

Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2020, 05:27:58 pm »
AR, I still have your nuc body.  If we ever have another meeting, I?ll return.
Van
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline AR Beekeeper

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2020, 05:34:31 pm »
That's OK Van, you didn't know it, but I'm charging you rent! 

Offline Nock

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #10 on: May 29, 2020, 07:00:45 pm »

Little update. I went back into this hive last Sunday. Still no signs of a Queen and still signs of laying workers. I even saw three laying. So I went ahead and shook the bees out in the yard. And removed the box. After doing this I decided to go check a swarm box I had on my neighbor. Haven?t checked it in a month probably. I open it and see about half a frame drawn out. There was a total of three bees in the box. Two workers and a Queen. So I close it up. Go home get a clip. Go back and open it up. She starts to come up the wall I go to catch her and the clip breaks. That was my first and will be my only plastic clip haha. So she flys. She starts flying around the tree. So I put the box back up. After a few minutes she comes back and goes in. This time I take box and all home. I used a wad of mud to block the entrance on ride home. I take it inside the house to the bathroom. In case she fly?s again least brings in a small room. I catch her and put her in a cage. I dabbed a little honey on screen. She immediately started feeding. So I go back and check on the bees I shook. Part went to a box next to old spot. The rest were back on the hive stand. So I placed the cage on stand and they immediately went to cage. I watched for awhile. They were trying to feed her and were fanning the spot. So I took a gamble and put the cage in a nuc and placed it in the spot. They marched right in. I went back in three days and they had released her. And she was alive and well. So what do you think happened with the swarm she was in?  Maybe a small swarm with a virgin. And with all the crap weather we have had it took along time for her to mate. And the numbers just dwindled down? 

Offline iddee

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #11 on: May 29, 2020, 07:17:18 pm »
abscond.... The rest died after an insecticide poisoning, would be my guess.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #12 on: May 29, 2020, 07:28:41 pm »
Nock, what a story!!!!  Two bees and a queen?  ID has a good a guess as any.  I might add a second possibility:  a feral queen that settled in the only spot she could find that would accept her.  Most hives will not accept a feral queen.  If my guess is correct, she will thrive, if ID is correct, she should have effects of the poison soon.

Great story, one for the books titled:SUPER RARE BEE EVENTS!

CHEERS
I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline Nock

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #13 on: May 29, 2020, 08:05:55 pm »
I also wonder if they absconded. If so why would she not go with them?  I will keep a eye on her for any effects of poisoning. Thanks.

Offline beesnweeds

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Re: LW maybe?
« Reply #14 on: May 29, 2020, 08:08:18 pm »
So what do you think happened with the swarm she was in? 

   My guess would be disease/mites or a combination of both.
Everyone loves a worker.... until its laying.