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Queen with Deformed Wing....and maybe a spare

2K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  gunsmith 
#1 ·
So as per every ones advice we have been waiting for our Queens to hatch. We have 2 cells that have still not hatched and what I believe are 2 queens wandering about the hive. The first queen unfortunately seems to have a very deformed wing. Beehive Apiary Honeycomb Insect Arthropod
She is just slightly left of center. If you zoom in her wings are very visible.

We have had no sign of Varroa mites as far as I can tell. So maybe the cell got damaged somehow while she was developing?

And we have this fatty. Who Fred is convinced is a queen but I'm thinking is a drone. (it was moving to fast for me to get a look at the front end and honestly giant googly eyes is drone identifier so far) Automotive tire Motor vehicle Asphalt Wood Road surface


So yeah..........hoping another queen hatches out of our two remaining cells and does away with gimpy (although clearly her disability has not prevented her bid to power so far). Or do we get rid of her now? Start thinking about ordering a queen? Stop stressing and be patient?:???:

Shelley
 

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#2 ·
you catch her and destroy her before she seeks out the other cells that haven't hatched, which she surely will. Even the workers will NOT tolerate a deforemd queen long, but you can certianly speed the process up a bit, and save the unhatched queens by destroying the deformed queen. And yes the fat one is a drone ( typically male--wait what am I saying!!!!)
 
#3 ·
Shelley,
As Barry says, "destroy her"--and the sooner the better. There is absolutely no reason to think of possibly "Saving" this queen--remember, with only one wing she can't fly and that means she won't be able to mate. But she's still a queen by naturer and will try to eliminate any competition she can. That would end any hope for your hive's future from home bred queens.
 
#4 ·
I am not certain what you are looking at in regards to the queen and the deformed wing. I cannot in truth get a very good resolution in the picture you provided. Is in any way she laying inappropriately or not performing up to par?

Not being able to see what the condition of the queen is and not knowing her age or how (or if) she is laying I will toss out a wild guess. Often time after even a short stay in the box a queens wings will become damaged from being chewed on by the workers (some folks seem to think the more highly hygienic bees do this more than those that are not highly hygienic). If the queen is laying (don't really know if she is or is not) then logically she has flown and mated and then began to lay. If in fact her wing was deformed then mating would never have happened.
 
#5 ·
Tec, hold down the control key while scrolling the mouse's wheel--you should be able to increase the size of your picture. To me it looks very distinctly like the malformed wing of a worker with DWV, certainly not a nibbled wing. Her abdomen isn't visible so I can't tell if she's been mated or not, found no eggs in any of the cells I could look into.
 
#6 ·
Thanks folks. I was thinking that destroying her was the answer but we're still so new at this I wanted to check in. And no, absolutely no eggs, larvae, ect. Everything has hatched out at this point. As I said, there are still 2 queen cells left to hatch, so I'm hoping we still will let the bees manage, but if not we will just have to purchase a new queen.

Shelley
 
#7 ·
I would pinch that queen (if indeed it even is a queen, hard to see) with the deformed wings, and i'd put in a frame of fresh eggs from another hive and I'd then leave the hive alone for at least 2 weeks. Then if there are any new queens in two weeks (from your current cells) then leave them another 2 weeks and then check for brood or eggs. The added frame with fresh eggs will be your insurance policy if the cell queens don't work out well. That way, one way or another the bees have a way to insure a working new queen.
 
#9 ·
Execution complete. Took quite a while to locate her again. The last 2 queen cells have hatched out today as well, so providing she didn't get to them first I'm hoping we'll still be ok. No larvae left. Everything has hatched out since our old queen went MIA.........and I stand corrected on the mites. Spotted a number of them this time. :???: Seriously, one thing at a time would be kind of nice.

Shelley
 
#14 ·
I would still give them a frame with some fresh eggs on it tomorrow.

And then I would leave the hive completely alone for at least 2 weeks. Don't keep opening it and disturbing them after you give them the eggs. The bees benefit from very little disruption while requeening.
 
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