Hi Beeks,
I’ve recently lost a queen from a Varroa infestation. I managed to treat the Varroa infestation successfully with oxalic acid smoking. I smoked all my three colonies despite only one was infested.
Three weeks down the track, the one that was infested had the queen missing. So I took a frame full of eggs and larvae and capped brood from its neighbouring colony. It then produced a new queen. She was small. After about three weeks, the queen went missing for a while. Got me worried, but eventually she came back with better looking abdomen, ready to lay some eggs. A week down the timeline, she did last eggs, not a lot though.
So it’s been about the months since the Varroa treatment, to new queen laying eggs, but here’s the situation now. I see a lot of eggs dropped in the bottom inspection tray.
It’s this a sign that the queen is not really performing?
By now she would be about less than 2 months old.
It’s rainy almost everyday here in the equator, but there are lots of trees with flowers blooming.
Give the queen another month to do her thing and settle into laying. Leave the hive without opening it up and then look for a good pattern of capped cells. Most of what I am seeing is bits of wax and propolis.
Cheers
Hi Anton - I enlarged and looked at your photo but I don’t see eggs there, just bits of wax and other typical bee debris, nothing to worry about. Have you seen bee eggs in cells? They are incredibly tiny, and a little sticky so they stay put. If one were to somehow fall, I believe it would be unlikely to make it all the way to the SBB and would instead get caught within the hive, maybe on another bee…
Take Peter’s advice and give your queen a bit more time - and read this post by Rusty Berlew on the length of time it takes before a new queen will be laying regularly:
One more bit of friendly advice if you live in an area with varroa, you can assume that ALL your colonies will become infested if you don’t treat/manage. I see you’re in Indonesia - I’m not familiar with your beekeeping practices there, do you have local advice on pest management? How did you know your queen died from varroa mites?
I’m not sure if the Varroa killed the queen, but the queen went missing after 5 cycles of Varroa treatment with oxalic acid smoking.
About the eggs in the cells, yes, there have been new eggs in there. Not a lot though.
I’m also wondering if the box is too big for them. There are only 3 combs with bees. Should I make a 5 frame box for them to work with?
Temperature is about 25-35 C with intermittent rain.
When @Eva spoke about you getting local advice she was meaning in your locality, your area in Indonesia. For example I live in a sub-tropical climate in Australia with no varroa yet, so my my advise in some of your bee keeping is not as good as a bee keeper in your area with years of bee keeping knowledge.
If you have new eggs and larvae in the hive your hive is queen-right so maybe you missed seeing her. I am guessing your hive is an 8 or 10 frame box, is that right? If it is then in your climate then the hive should be full of frames so that the colony can build up. At this stage you should not have a super on the hive and it should be just a single brood box hive.
If your hive becomes queen-less then we can guide you thru making a new queen in the hive but don’t ask about how to do it till you need to or you will be flooded with information that you don’t need.
Don’t open the hive just for a look but maybe once every 2 week do a full hive inspection checking for larvae, squash any SHB and wax moth. Use all you senses, listen to the sound of a healthy hive, the hive should smell of honey, look for a calm colony that isn’t agro as you lift the roof off. If the bees are agro then there is often a reason that you can fix, Work to a plan with your inspections but be flexible if you see something wrong that you are not sure about then we are here to help you. A photo or two can be a big help for us to help you.
A local mentor that you can have look at your hives is worth his weight in gold but remember to offer to be an off-sider for him to pay him back for his time.
Cheers
I definitely see eggs in that picture, so that’s good! About your box size, I think many beeks would reduce the space and put them into a 5 frame nuc until they build up, since so many unoccupied frames could allow pests to get a foothold.
A weak hive with old bees is what is described. The queen can lay eggs all day but if there is not enough nurse bees most of the eggs are doomed. Consider adding a frame of capped brood from a strong hive. Repeat in 2 weeks if needed. Be careful to not have queen with the brood from donor hive.
if you live in an area with varroa, you can assume that ALL your colonies will become infested if you don’t treat/manage. I see you’re in Indonesia - I’m not familiar with your beekeeping practices there, do you have local advice on pest management? How did you know your queen died from varroa mites?