Dead Queen Found

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Hello,

I just found my queen on the ground in front of the hive. She wasn’t moving, and two other bees were near her investigating.

Background info:

  • My hive swarmed on March 28th, and I subsequently thinned the queen cells to 1.
  • My hive also has high varroa mite numbers, and I treated with formic pro on April 17th. I used 1 strip.

Upon seeing the dead queen, I immediately performed a hive inspection. I wanted to see if larva was present, or if I could spot another queen.
I found:
- 3 empty queen cups
- No queen
- Only 2 individual uncapped larva, which I think is worker brood.
- An entire frame of drone brood.

Also, my bees seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today… :scream:

I already called my local beekeeper, and they have a queen I can pickup on Wednesday.

Is the consensus that I should re-queen asap? Also, could formic pro, used 6 days ago, have caused my young queen to die? I used it when highs for the first 3 days were under 85 degrees as directed.

dead queen 1
dead queen 11920×1900 258 KB

2

Formic pro is hard on queens. I think I lose about 1/3 of the queens when I use it. I figure that at the time of the year I am using it (mid-late summer) mite populations are high and the queen loss gives an opportunity for a brood break too…

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3

@chau06 - I’ve used Apiguard and Apivar in the past. Apiguard has seemed effective, but Apivar less so. I was concerned the mites would build up resistance. Are there any other varroa mite treatments that you recommend that aren’t harsh on queens?

4

Oxalic acid. I vaporize but others including @Dawn_SD use the shop towel/sponge method of randy Oliver’s.

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5

@chau06 - Thank you, I’ll look into Oxalic acid the next time treatment is needed.

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