# queen not mated???



## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

Not sure when it has been a month from: But www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm should help. Yes it can be more than a month.


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## Deuce (Oct 15, 2013)

I split them September 2nd. And I first noticed her in the hive around the 20th.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

That is getting late. I would not have offed the old queen as the first step, I would have moved her out to a nuc. Do florida queens shut down now? Here a shut down queen would be good, but not many would be doing splits then.
Do you have a source of a gentle queen or queen cell? Strong probability that a hot queen will have hot daughters.
Florida keepers?


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

I don't understand the rationale of splitting the hive. I would have just killed the queen they make a new one. Large hive will make better queens than smaller splits. 

Or I would have split out the "mean" queen into a small 2 frame nuc. Then let the original colony rear the queens. 

Try putting on some 1:1 to get the new queen laying. If theres no food she won't lay.


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## roberto487 (Sep 22, 2012)

Deuce said:


> To start, I am new to beekeeping. I was fortunate enough to get my first hive by capturing a swarm in my neighbors yard this spring. They were doing fantastic until about 3 months ago when i went to move them to a new location and they were extremely aggressive. I have never once seen this behavior with this hive and usually went out to inspect them with just a tshirt and no veil. Well, after I suited up and moved them, they then attacked my family and dog. I thought maybe they were africanized but they just werent that aggressive. I was told by a beekeeper I should split the hive and kill the queen and let them make a new one and it will restore the gentleness in the bees. So i did exactly that, i split the hive and smashed the old queen. both hives have made queens now and the original is even more aggressive. the new hive is gentle but i havent seen any eggs in the comb and its been almost a month. has she not been mated yet? or is she defective at this point?


Does she looks bigger than when you first found her?


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## Deuce (Oct 15, 2013)

roberto487 said:


> Does she looks bigger than when you first found her?


No she looks exactly the same. And @ saltybee im not sure what you mean im new to beekeeping. Lol


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## Spinner (Jun 2, 2013)

Deuce said:


> @ saltybee im not sure what you mean im new to beekeeping. Lol


Saltybee is referring to a number of things:

1. Rather than killing (offing) the queen, one would usually put the queen in a nuc in case the new queen doesn't take. It's an insurance measure if things go wrong. If this were done, you can recombine the queen and nuc with the hive and keep the colony going.

2. A queen shutting down means she's stopped laying eggs because of lack of food or oncoming winter season. Those of us in the midwest have no idea if queens in your area shutdown for the winter or keep going.

3. A queen raised from a hot hive will likely have the hot traits of the colony. Can you obtain a queen with gentle traits from a Florida area keeper? The fact that you gathered a (gentle) swarm this spring that has since turned hot indicates they likely raised a new queen that found some hot traits.

4. And finally, are there any Florida beeks that can chime in and provide local guidance.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Smaller hives tend to be less aggressive, which is why you break down larger hot hives. I would've requeened with commercial stock personally. Also, sometimes after moves, bees can be more pissy than usual which may have contributed or they're low on stores too.


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