AJuff Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 All was well in my hive until my marked queen disappeared two weeks ago She had been poorley mated last year and was not very big. I had considered replacing her but since the weather warmed up she has done a great job building up rapidly. So without a queen I rang a friend. She knew of a lady who had a queen . . so I drove out to collect her. A very sad hive with a queen and about 20 attendants . . I brought them home and put them in my hive and waited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nothing??? Or at least I think no eggs. Without eggs and the chance of a new queen I put in a frame of eggs from a friend. (Interesting thing is I couldn't see any eggs on the frame but my friend assured me there were day old standing up eggs. Failing eye sight????) I took a quick peek today and there are about 10 open queen cups with C shaped larvae floating in royal jelly. So my question is . . as the hive is still very busy on one brood box and almost a full super . .will a queen hatch and tear down the other queen cell/kill the other queens or is there a chance they could swarm with one of them???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 will a queen hatch and tear down the other queen cell/kill the other queens No she won't. You will lose cast after cast till your colony is depleted. Reduce them down to one if you're brave or two and bank one in a nuc nearer hatching....which is what I would do. Best of luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
