I have a 8 frame flow hive with bad chalkbrood ATM but still is quite strong and full of bees. I have a friend that has made new queens to replace mine. My question is do I make two nucs out of the chalkbrood hive or make a nuc from my strong Lang hive? We have 11 new queen cells and I don’t want to waste them, my friend is making new nucs and requeening some other hives with the rest. I am in SE qld Australia and there is still a flow ATM and another due in April?(tee tree)
As you are nearing the end of summer, I would leave it as a single strong hive. Keeping them as strong as possible will help with the chalkbrood too.
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Just re queen the full sized hive.
That way you have one strong colony instead of two weak ones
Agree with Dawn
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Thanks Dawn,Dee, Even though my flow hive has chalkbrood could I still put the super on? The hive is full of bees and every frame has brood or honey on it. I haven’t put it on yet as I was hoping to get the CB under control first. I have tried bananas and small entrance but it not getting better. I am removing the old queen this Thursday so they are queen less for a day before putting in the new queen cell on Friday. She should hatch out on Sunday or Monday.
I wouldn’t recommend re-queening with a queen cell. If you take the old queen out for one day what do you think the bees will do?
They will start queen cells.
You would have to go right through the brood box to remove them and you will probably miss some/one. They will make more when you close up as they have the raw material for 6 days after the queen is removed. They will destroy the queen cell you lovingly put in.
If you are trying to replace the queen with a queen cell you have to protect it so that the bees can’t get to it (tin foil with the end open or a proprietary cell protector). It has to be introduced when the colony is hopelessly queen less and even then is risky in a full size colony.
If a queen cell is all you have, leave the present queen in situ, make up a nucleus colony from your hive and introduce your protected queen cell half an hour after making the nuc up. Wait till your new queen is mated and has laid up a frame of brood, unite with your old hive after squashing the queen. I don’t know whether you have forage still for a super though.
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Thanks Dee, if the new queencell has a protector and is about to hatch out in a day or so wouldn’t the new queen kill any queen cells they start?
If you think you require requeening, just kill the old queen and introduce a mated queen an hour later.
I had chalkbrood once, my fault, chilled the brood and checker boarded after. But within 2 week the bees cleared it all up.
So, if your queen is bred for hygiene, the hive will deal with chalk brood pronto.
If they don’t, you need a new queen.
Just get a mated one to eliminate delay and unforeseen eventualities.
If you have several hives you can experiment, but with just a couple of hives you want to make sure you are queenright without delay or question marks.
In spring, I got a couple of queens mated here successfully.
Now there are huge cobwebs everywhere with lots of bees in them daily. Wouldn’t want to take a chance with queen mating at the moment.
But it may be quite different where you are.
Anyway, did you chill your hive at some stage? Are you still finding chalkbrood mummies? Does your hive have too much space for the amount of your bees? Has it gone on for more than 2 weeks?
I never heard amongst my bee buddies around here that chalkbrood was a big concern.
This hive was a nuc in October but the queen died somehow( probs me rolled it)and they requeened themselves. During this time we had rain and my flow hive lid leaked water and mould grew under the lid. It has had chalkbrood for two-three months. I was giving the new queen a chance to sort it but no avail. I have now made new queens from my strong hive which will be ready to hatch this weekend. The 8 frame hive is full of bees brood and honey but a lot of chalkbrood as well. After a week the coreflute is covered…
My strong 10 frame Lang is right next to the flow hive and it has none.
It has been hot here for months now so no chance of chilled brood. South east Queensland in summer is quite hot and humid. 28-38 deg C. The coreflute is in the bottom slot for ventilation. The bees often beard out the front during the day.
Maybe but I wouldn’t chance it. I have made nucs from queen cells and that always works.
Would I have enough resources in the 8 frame flow to make a nuc until the new queen is mated.?
Sounds your chalkbrood is well established then. We are north eastern NSW, so likely same temps and humidity. Get the feeling this humidity is not so great for bees, and a leaking roof doesn’t help.
I drill holes in the back of the roof when I find mould, that eliminates the it.
Good luck with your queen cells. Exciting times till you find eggs.
Well just split the hive in two and forget the Flow frames.
I have a 5 frame nuc box i am using so if i take 3 frames , 1 brood , 1 honey, 1 x nectar from the 8 frame flow hive 24hrs before i add the queen cell in a protector cage. I will put 2 x empty frames on the outside to fill the space? I will then feed them until the queen is mated and laying. Then i will kill yhe chalkbrood queen and recombine the hives to make it syrong again. Am i on the right track?
I frame emerging brood next to the wall of the nuc. 2 frames of stores including pollen, 2 drawn ( preferably) frames. Shake two or three frames of nurse bees in.
Feed if needed but very carefully.
Once you are sure queen is mated ( capped worker brood) unite.
Thanks Dee, will give it a go.