Bear Attack, Advice?

[RogerK]

Hi, I am new here, and a fairly new bee keeper. My hive seems to be in trouble from 2 bear attacks. Hopefully someone experienced can help. Here is what happened, and my current situation.

I purchased new bees on April 15th. I live in MN. The hive was doing very well, and I expanded to a 2nd brood box. About 10 days ago I went on a business trip. I came back and it was cold and rainy. I didn't bother to look at the hive. I went out Monday morning and the hive and frames were scattered all over. The feeder pail was dragged away and had huge teeth and claw marks. It was a bear. The bees were clinging to the frames, and many of them were sort of shingled together, so most of the bees in one spot. I put the hive together and I strapped it down with anchors. I wasn't exactly sure what to do until I got more info. The next morning the bear as back and tore it down again. This time the lower brood box was pretty much still together. So I moved the entire hive in a planter right next to my house. No bears since, and I installed a motion light. Perhaps I'm ok with the bear now. As for the hive...

I opened it up today (after giving the hive some time to recover). There are plenty bees and brood. I saw only a few white larva and saw no eggs. I saw many queen cells formed, and many of them were opened. This was confusing to me. If the queen died in the bear attack, that would account for queen cells, but only a queen would open and destroy these queen cells as I understand it. Also, I think it takes 2-3 weeks for a new worker queen to hatch. The hive was thriving at that time, so don't think there was time for a new worker queen yet. There are no new eggs, but some white larva looks to be less than 5 days old as they get capped then as I understand. So, is the queen around or not? My best theory is that when the bear attacked and frames laying all over, some bees assumed there was no queen and created the queen cells. When I reassembled the queen destroyed most of the queen cells. perhaps the trauma has kept her from producing eggs. I did notice when I got the bees, it did take a few weeks before I saw eggs. maybe I just need more time.
Any thoughts?

[cao]

When was the last time you checked on the hive?  They could have started the queen cells before the bear attack.  If the queen cells were torn open from the side then that indicates that there is a queen in there somewhere.  If they got a new queen I would give them another week or two to sort things out.  I'm glad I don't have to worry about bears.

[Bush_84]

Bear suck. An electric fence is about all you can do. I wouldn't be to confident that putting it close to the house will prevent more bears. A few questions.

What do you mean by opened queen cells.  Are they just uncapped, emerged, or torn into from the side? 

What was the exact number of days between bear attacks and queen cells? 

Is there something that you are seeing that would give you the indication that there is a queen in the hive?

From what I've read it seems that it's likely that you lost your queen and the bees are trying to replace her.  Without knowing more it sounds like these queen cells are uncapped and you aren't seeing an eggs because there is no queen.

[herbhome]

Roger,
 I live in the woods of the Arkansas Ozarks. Bears are an ever present reality. I build my garden and beeyard fence with stout corner posts well braced and cattle panel with t-posts at least every 8 feet. Then I run electic fence about 6" above the cattle panel and another about 18" from the ground on extended insulators all around the outside. It is key to drive a good solid ground stake and also ground the cattle panels. I connect the cattle panels to each other with cable clamps.

Mister Bear is powerful enough to walk down any fence but he will nose around the bottom and the top first. The fence will bite him and change his mind. I also have a couple of worthless hounds that hang around here because they hate bears, hogs and all varmints in general and will take after them as soon as they wind them.

Hope this is helpful

[RogerK]

Thanks for the reply's. So it has been a week since last checking. There is still some capped brood, and I saw a very few larva, but no eggs. The queen cells have been broken open. I did not see any closed ones and I checked about 8 frames. Is it possible a worker queen hatched and is very sub standard as a queen? I have to now travel for a week and a half. With no eggs, and the capped brood reducing, I suspect the hive will collapse in the weeks ahead. There is still plenty of activity (population) but with the short life span of a bee, without a laying queen this will not last.

Suggestion? I presume I need a to introduce a new queen soon. I do have a friend who could do this for me.

Thanks,

Roger

[Bush_84]

What did the queen cells look like?  Did the bottom appear popped off or the side chewed out?  If a queen emerged when do you think that happened?  If a queen has emerged then she still has to harden off for a few days then go on her mating flights. If the timing makes sense you could have a virgin queen in your hive.

Edit- see this link. It's helpful for timing. 

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

As you can see it take about 18 days for a queen to emerge from her cell but she may not be laying for another couple of weeks depending on the weather.