CURSED HIVE ?

[Martin]

POSTED LAST SUNDAY ABOUT QUEENLESS HIVE . WHEN I WAS IN THE HIVE ON 5-11 THERE WAS SOME LARVAE  BUT SAW NO QUEEN . OPENED TODAY AND HAD ONLY DRONE BROOD CAPPED SO I ASSUMED AT THAT POINT THAT I HAD LAYING WORKERS. NOT SO BAD RIGHT  :? UNTIL I GOT TO THE LAST THREE FRAMES WHICH WERE OLD DRAWN FRAMES THAT HAD SOME CAPPED HONEY - THEY WERE COVERED WITH HIVE BEETLE LARVAE. I TOOK THESE FRAMES OUT AND PUT THEME IN A GARBAGE BAG WITH A BUG BOMB AND PUT THEM IN THE TRASH. HATED TO DO THIS BUT THOUGHT THIS WAS BEST WITH THE NUMBER OF BEETLE LARVAE. NOW WHAT TO DO :?

[AllenF]

Next time don't toss beetle frames, freeze them.   It kills the beetles and does not ruin the frames.   Have you tried to get some brood frames or a queen for your hive yet?

[Tommyt]

If there was a bunch of SHB you don't have enough bees
So pull all the frames except what your bees can cover
lets say you have a 10 frame box if you only have bees
to watch over 3 frames keep just 4 frames in that box
till they catch up and keep adding frames as the population
Grows
 Go through your hive real slow to see if you can find a queen
or eggs,use a magnifying glass to see if you have one egg in the
cell or multiples
 I hope you find single eggs or none at all,if its none
then you just re-queen or put in a frame with EGGS not capped
Brood and larva, Eggs just like Iddee Say's you need with a
trap out EGGS :-D
Yes you can freeze the frames and they would be good again
you need something to get the beetles
If you don't have screen boards with oil pan or beetle barns
look the fatbeeman up on youtube on making SHB killers
He makes them out of political sign material

[Martin]

WAS THINKING ABOUT TAKING BLUE FOAM BOARD AND MAKING SPACERS TO FILL OUT THE BOX INSTEAD OF USING NEW FRAMES UNTIL I CAN GET THIS HIVE UP TO SPEED. SINCE THE NUMBER OF BEES ARE SMALL DON'T YOU THINK THIS WOULD BE THE BEST OPTION? WITH LOW NUMBERS DO YOU THINK I SHOULD TRY TO ORDER A QUEEN AND INSTALL A FRAME OF CAPPED BROOD . I'M THINKING OF THE TIME LINE OF RAISING A QUEEN. THIS PACKAGE WAS INSTALLED ON 4-2 , WORRRIED ABOUT THE BEES AGING OUT BEFORE A NEW QUEEN WOULD RAISE, MATE, LAY , AND PRODUCE NEW BEES . IF EVERYTHING WENT WELL WOULDN'T IT TAKE AROUND 42-44 DAYS FOR THIS TO WORK. JUST HATE TO WASTE MORE RESOURCES IF THE HIVE IS PAST THE TIME FRAME FOR IT TO RECOVER THIS SEASON . THANKS

[Martin]

JUST ANOTHER NOTE ON THIS HIVE I NEVER SAW ANY LIVE ( MATURE ) BETTLES WHEN DOING INSPECTIONS . WAS SUPRISED TO FIND ALL OF THAT LARVAE IN 9 DAYS. THANKS AGAIN

[Kathyp]

do you have another hive or two?  if so, i'd just take this one a bit away and shake it out.  put the hive away when you are done. the bees will join your other hives.

take the old frames and freeze them all.  use them for a swarm trap or something.

[Scadsobees]

Please stop yelling at us!! :-D

If this was a package installed a month ago, and they now have a laying worker and beetles, I'm really sorry to say this, but I'm afraid they've about had it.  A package of bees has a big enough challenge just building up, and now you have month old workers at the youngest (and lost all the older ones) and an aggressive predator in the hive.

If you have access to at least one frame of capped brood, I'd recommend basically a split(three frame with all the bees and some more) from another hive and maybe shake these bees out in front of the split.  Then they can raise their own queen.