Struggling Small Colony

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linda_rm
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2014 6:12 pm

Struggling Small Colony

Post by linda_rm » Sun Jun 22, 2014 6:36 pm

Hi, I am a new beekeeper. I received 2 colonies in April, and one them is struggling. They lost their Queen probably late May or early June and their numbers started to dwindle. I re-Queened 2 weeks ago, checked the Hive 10 days later and the Queen is alive. But the number of bees is alarmingly low and half Drones, and she does not seem to be laying. I already took a comb of open brood from my other hive when I re-Queened, but it didn't seem to help that much (except perhaps encouraging the colony to accept the Queen) At any rate I don't think I can risk taking another comb.
Is there a way to add bees to a hive? Is is possible to combine another small colony harmoniously into my Hive?
Any advice would be most welcome!!

donstu
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:29 am

Re: Struggling Small Colony

Post by donstu » Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:00 am

You introduced the new queen about the 10th of June.
Today is the 23rd of June.
It takes 21 days for a worker from egg to emerge.
Your new queen has not yet had enough time to increase your population.
It's still dwindling from normal attrition.
Check them around July 4 and you should see new bees emerging.
You say she is not laying. Is that because you inspected for eggs and larva and found none?
If yes, then she's a dud.
You may need to do a newspaper merge with another colony.

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