Queen laying blanks?

[Aroc]

What do you suppose it means when a queen goes through the trouble of going through the motions of laying an egg in a cell but doesnt.

We have an observation hive so we can see her ?laying?.  I know she?s laying because they brought out a dead pupae the other day.  Eggs so far must be layed in between the frames where we can?t see them.

We watch her ?lay? eggs but so far none have been deposited in any of the outside frames.

[Dallasbeek]

How old is she?  Could she be too old?  A virgin? 

[eltalia]

How old is she?  Could she be too old?  A virgin?

mmmm... dunno, some form of bee "quality assurance inspection" perhaps?
Usually a poor performing queen is superceded, fast.
OP is not saying if the cells are drone comb, but even so there would not
be so many to think she may be shooting blanks.... as the topic cites.

Bill

[Aroc]

How old is she?  Could she be too old?  A virgin?

A year old.  She did fine last year. 

[Aroc]

Actually she never laid a single drone last year.  I?m pretty sure she has brood in between frames.  Just can?t confirm since we can?t see them.  The workers brought out a dead pupae, so I?m sure she has laid eggs.

[BeeMaster2]

Aroc,
I also have an OH. I find it very hard to see the eggs through the glass. Mark some cells that you see here putting her abdomen in and wait 5 days and see what happens.
Jim

[Acebird]

We watch her ?lay? eggs but so far none have been deposited in any of the outside frames.

Hive low on pollen?  Bees might be eating them.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Aroc, here is what to do.  We know how to deal with these kind of issues in Arkansas.

First:  spank her, spank her a good one.
Second:  make her stand in the corner of the hive for 5 minutes and she is not allowed to speak to any other bees.
Third: make her apologize and clean combs.
Fourth:  inform the queen she is on probation and watch her closely.
That oughta do it, gotta keep dem dare queens in line.

[beepro]

Last season I had an experience with an II Cordovan queen that when she ran out of
juice, she will not lay any egg.  But her workers were very excited every time she stick her
abdomen into an empty cell.   Hah, no egg!    She ended up flying off to La-La-Land.    Was yours a late
season mated queen?

[Acebird]

Does a queen live long enough to run out of eggs?  Sperm maybe.

[Dallasbeek]

If she runs out of sperm I think she'd lay drones.  Probably never run out of eggs.

[Aroc]

She hasn?t layed a single drone.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Does a queen live long enough to run out of eggs?  Sperm maybe.

Ace a queens ovaries are in tandem, 50-75 rows side to side the length of the abdomen.  Each row holds hundreds of individual ovaries.  Each ovarie containing hundred of eggs.  In short, there are millions of eggs.

{In case your wondering in humans each ovarie contains about 3,000 eggs.}

Considering the spermatheca (sperm holding sac) holds 10ul.  A drone can contribute 1 ul.  Thus a queen can only carry 10 drones worth of semen regardless of how many she mates with.  A fully breed queens spermatheca can carry over millions.

That answer your question Buddy?
Blessings

[Acebird]

Just winging some numbers looks like neither one would run out of eggs.

[eltalia]

Does a queen live long enough to run out of eggs?  Sperm maybe.

Ace a queens ovaries are in tandem, 50-75 rows side to side the length of the abdomen.
 Each row holds hundreds of individual ovaries.  Each ovarie containing hundred of eggs. 
In short, there are millions of eggs.
(edit)

Sooo there is a veritable buffet come lunch wagon for even
the most slothfull/indolent/lazy of spermatozoid to catch onto!
                                                                                                         

Bill

[beepro]

If memory is correct, I read that a well mated queen can hold up to 8 million sperms lasting her
entire life time.   She would never run out of sperms but if for some reason she cannot lay the eggs, hence the
empty cells, then nothing get fertilized.   So what is wrong with this queen's ovaries that she cannot lay any egg?  Certainly is
a medical issue/mystery here.

[eltalia]

So what is wrong with this queen's ovaries that she cannot lay any egg?  Certainly is
a medical issue/mystery here.

... or perhaps a gender bending issue??
Maaaate, no easy way of putting this but I reckon you
got a Dyke on your hands, yup, bl00d oath I do !!
                                                                           

https://www.ur  bandictionary.com/define.php?term=dyke

Take her out, lock her in a cage with 20 drones, an' after
a week of that debauchery let her go... one of Putin's sidekicks
told me that trick :-)))))

Bill

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Bill, you are hilarious.  I enjoy the humor. 
Blessings

[eltalia]

Bill, you are hilarious.  I enjoy the humor. 
Blessings

I can only hope beePro gets a chuckle from my Russky rolic :)


Bill

[Dabbler]

What do you suppose it means when a queen goes through the trouble of going through the motions of laying an egg in a cell but doesnt.

Perhaps the Queen is just asking that age old question - " Does my abdomen look fat in this cell?" 

[eltalia]

What do you suppose it means when a queen goes through the trouble of going through the motions of laying an egg in a cell but doesnt.

Perhaps the Queen is just asking that age old question - " Does my abdomen look fat in this cell?" 

[LMAO]

Bill

[Aroc]

Looks like we?re good. 

It was suggested that the hive might be low on pollen and the bees were in fact removing the eggs.  We added a bit of pollen sub and sugar syrup.  This morning we do in fact see larvae that is about 4-5 days old.

Thanks to all for the help...and the laughs.