CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to keep a bee colony without a queen bee

1. How to raise a bee colony without a queen bee

If you do nothing, it will scatter. The worker bees will slowly die.

If there is no queen bee in the [beehive], there is still hope. The worker bees will transform the worker beehive into a queen cell to raise the queen. Once the new queen is born and mates, the queen is successful.

Beekeeping knowledge: If a group of bees loses its queen, or replaces a bad queen with a good one, when introducing a new queen to the group, they often surround the queen or even bite the new queen to death. When introducing a queen to a group of bees, the queen to be introduced is first soaked in water, or sprayed with a sprayer, and then put into the bee colony. Because the queen bee is covered with water, she either stays still or moves slowly. At this time, many worker bees come over and lick the water off the queen bee. After the queen bee is wet, its own smell will temporarily disappear, and the worker bees will not reject the introduced queen bee as an outsider. I also noticed that individual bees have the nature of "compassion" for their own kind. When one or more bees are wet, many bees will lick the water off the wet bees; after the water dries, the foreign bees, or the queen bee, have the same smell as the bee colony. This method of introducing queen bees, whether it is a new queen or an old queen, has been successful. The queen bees and bee colonies used here are all Italian bees or their hybrids. Northeast black bees were not used for experiments. It is said that Northeast black bees are very good at rejecting queens. By the way, if you take a beehive to supplement another colony, or merge two colonies, according to the above-mentioned principle of introducing the new king, you only need to spray all the bees on the supplementary beehive to merge them. It will be safer if both sides are sprayed.

Hope this helps~

Without a queen bee, there will be no leader. There will be no new bees. Then the bees will run away. Go to other bee colonies. Without a queen bee, quickly divide the bees into other beehives. Or put a queen inside.

All will die

2. Will bee colonies without a queen still collect pollen?

Will worker bees in a queenless colony collect pollen? The answer is yes, but this is only temporary. Because when the colony just lost its queen, there are still eggs and larvae in the colony, and the worker bees must collect pollen to feed the larvae. As time goes by, the larvae cap and there are no eggs in the colony, and the enthusiasm of the worker bees gradually decreases. If there are urgent queen cells, it’s okay. If there are no queen cells, the worker bees’ ovaries will develop, and then there will be no worker bees to collect pollen.

3. The new queen of my bees has not yet appeared, but the old queen has already split the colony. Now the bees are huddling together at the entrance of the hive. What is going on?

Because when the old queen bee leaves, she will take some of the bees with her.

Grouping

4. What to do with a bee colony without a queen bee?

If the bee colony has just lost its queen and there are still larvae and eggs on the honeycombs in the colony, the bees cannot sense the presence of the queen and will rush to build queen cells.

It is important to note that multiple queen cells will be produced if they are built urgently. Some people say that queen cells built urgently will not swarm, but they think that queen cells built urgently may swarm sometimes. A few days ago, I had a group of bees that swarmed because the queen bee failed to mate after mating, so the queen cells built urgently did.

So I think to be on the safe side, we should clean up the emergency queen cells on the honeycombs and only keep one emergency queen cell with a cap. Wait until the emergency queen in the emergency queen cell leaves the cell and successfully mates and lays eggs.

Note:

When the bee colony is strong, there are more worker bees in the colony, and brood combs can be transferred to the colony to allow the colony to urgently build queen cells. If there are fewer worker bees in the colony and the colony is weak, the beekeeper can only introduce a new queen bee into the colony.

At the same time, the bee colony needs to be fed and managed, because the queen bee begins to lay eggs and reproduce, and the bee colony needs worker bees to feed the larvae. The beekeeper feeds and manages the bee colony to help the worker bees reduce their workload of collecting food, and allows the limited worker bees in the colony to actively feed the larvae, helping the colony to cultivate more larvae.

5. What should I do if the new bee colony does not have a queen bee?

1. Intervention of the Queen Bee

Intervening with a queen bee is the most effective method, which requires a new queen bee and certain queen introduction techniques. The queen bee can be obtained from other apiaries or purchased online. In fact, many medium and large apiaries have a certain number of queen bees in reserve for emergencies. After solving the source of queen bees, the next step is technology. You must be careful when introducing a new queen bee into the bee colony, otherwise it is easy to surround the queen bee and cause injury or death to the queen bee. The specific method is to use honey water to confuse the smell of the queen bee and the bee colony so that the bee colony accepts the new queen bee. When the bee colony feeds the queen bee normally and the queen bee lays eggs normally, it means the queen introduction is successful.

2. Intervention of the royal cell

Inserting queen cells is the simplest method, which requires a mature queen cell and an appropriate amount of drones. The queen cell is a special nesting cell where the bee colony breeds new queens. It looks like a peanut shell and is usually located at the bottom of the honeycomb. It is darker in color when mature. Inserting queen cells into the bee colony is much simpler than inserting queens. Just fix the queen cells at the bottom of the honeycomb at night and pay attention to the acceptance of the bee colony. However, inserting queen cells also has a disadvantage, that is, after the queen bee is born, there needs to be a certain amount of drones outside. In fact, many people who keep bees for the first time do not have this condition.

3. Introducing Daughter Spleens

Introducing brood combs is the most troublesome method, which requires a certain amount of egg, larvae, and drones. In fact, both worker bees and queen bees are developed from fertilized eggs. The queen bee eats royal jelly for her entire life after hatching from the fertilized eggs, while the worker bees can eat royal jelly in the first three days after hatching, and can only eat ordinary food after that. If the worker bee larvae can continue to eat royal jelly, they will develop into queen bees. After introducing brood combs into the queenless colony, the worker bees will "urgently build royal cells" to cultivate new queens, but the introduced brood combs must contain small larvae or fertilized eggs within three days. At the same time, after the queen bee comes out, there must be a certain amount of drones and queen bees in the outside world to mate.

4. Merge colonies

Merging bee colonies is the most helpless method. If there is no queen bee and queen cells and no egg and larvae combs of the right age, the queenless colony can only be merged into other queen bee colonies. This can help to strengthen the colony. But generally, other bee colonies will have egg and larvae combs. In fact, it is only when the number of bees in the newly collected colony is too small or the number of bee colonies in the apiary has reached saturation that it will be merged into other colonies. If this group of queenless bees is left alone, the final result will be the demise of the entire colony. From this point of view, the most troublesome thing in beekeeping is the first colony of bees. Once you have a colony of bees, you will have many advantages.

Summary: The most effective way to deal with newly harvested bees without a queen bee is to introduce a queen bee or queen cells. A relatively complicated method is to introduce brood combs for the bee colony to "urgently build queen cells." Please note that once worker bees develop into adult bees, they can never become queen bees. If left unchecked, the entire colony will eventually die out.

Newly harvested bees should try to find the queen bee around the bee colony or hive; If the queen bee cannot be found, try to get some spleens, put the spleens and bee colonies into the beehive, and the worker bees will build a queen bee to breed a new queen bee. ; In the case of no queen bee and spleen, new queen bees or mature queen bees can be involved; If the mature queen bee is difficult to find, some egg spleens can also be transferred at this time.

I think at this time you can prepare an egg-laying queen, then imprison it and place it in the bee colony. After 1 to 2 days, observe the worker bees surrounding the queen. If the worker bees no longer surround the queen, it means that the worker bees have accepted the queen.

If there is no queen bee, you can keep the bees together and they will choose the queen bee themselves, so you don't have to worry about it at all.