[Assam] A Rebellion of my Own/ The Long Wait

[Chan Mahanta]

It was the evening of May 18, when I placed the new queen in the  
rebellious hive. In bee-keeping jargon, it was a QUEEN-WRONG hive ( as  
opposed to QUEEN-RIGHT). Had the hive been merely one that did not  
have a queen ( dead or otherwise
somehow missing) or  was removed for being defective (unable to lay  
eggs due to disease or just poorly mated and fertilized), then the new  
queen if accepted by the workers, would start laying eggs within three  
days.  So, if an inspection of the hive, after three days, shows  
presence of new eggs, it would be definite proof that the re-queening  
was a success.

Not so for a hive where the workers killed the queen and took over egg- 
laying themselves. In such a case, in a LAYING WORKER HIVE , a three- 
day-later inspections could still show eggs, laid by workers, even if  
the queen was killed AGAIN. In such a case
a determination of the success of the re-queening effort could not be  
made for eight days. That is because newly laid eggs
get sealed in their cells in eight days. And the sealed cells for  
drones will be markedly different, randomly placed ones as opposed to  
good worker bee cells, packed tightly and neatly in an arching pattern  
in the rectangular frames. If an inspection after eight days show all  
drones, that would prove that the re-queening did not work and that  
the new queen too was killed by the rogue workers.

Since I placed the new queen on the evening of May 18, I counted the  
three days from May 19. As I mentioned earlier, the workers
surrounded the queen, as soon as she got out of my hat into the hive,  
in a tight ball. It is normal for workers to surround a new queen, but  
not in a tight ball, a sign of aggressive behavior. I was concerned  
about it and wanted to give enough time to elapse
before I inspected. On May 22, I opened the hive and looked through  
all the frames. The queen, a marked one, should have been
visible, since the number of bees in the colony were fairly small now,  
but I could not find her. There were sealed drone cells here and  
there, likely from the earlier, worker laid eggs. There were new eggs,  
but it was impossible to judge if they were good, queen laid worker  
bee eggs or worker laid drones. The inspection was inconclusive, but  
it did not look good. I would have to wait another five days! I  
reported my findings to Bob, and he concurred. So, what should I do,  
if it turns out that the re-queening did not work, I asked Bob. He was  
quite sure, I will have to let the hive die and get me a new set of  
bees and a queen, called a NUC, short for a nucleus. It is too late  
now to re-start with a PACKAGE, like we did in mid-April.

So what is a NUC and what is a package? Well, a package is a bunch of  
bees, about 12 to 15000 in a cage with a queen packed
in a special cage inside the larger worker bee cage. The new bee- 
keeper releases the packaged bees and the queen into hive boxes fitted  
with frames and foundations for the bees to build combs on, where the  
queen starts to lay eggs to build a colony up. A NUC is a set of  
frames, four or five, with sealed broods ( worker cells), each with  
nearly six-thousand cells, stored honey, an active queen and several  
thousand of young ( recently hatched) worker bees. The cost is the  
same for a package and a NUC. At first glance it would seem that a  
starting bee-keeper would be far better off starting with a NUC,  
instead of a package. Not so! It is recommended that newbies start  
with packages, because often a NUC may come with diseases and mites.  
The newbies' worst
enemy is diseases, with a LAYING WORKER HIVE being second worst!

Bob gave me the name of a local bee-keeper of great repute, Ted, from  
whom I could get a NUC, should I need one. On May 22
I called Ted, explained my situation and asked if he could help me  
with a NUC. He assured me he had plenty, just wait to ensure the re- 
queening did not work and that I had in fact a LAYING WORKER COLONY.  
If I did, he concurred that would be a bad situation, will have to  
destroy the bees and start all over. Can I salvage all the combs that  
have been built, I asked. Would hate to waste all that. He assured me  
that wouldn't be a problem. But I was not clear on how we would get  
rid of them bad bees.  That bugged me to no end.

The ninth day after re-queening, May 27, was the day of reckoning.  I  
inspected the hive. There were still a few capped drone cells around  
as well as two queen cells without anything inside them. There was not  
a single sealed worker cell anywhere. I could see only one new egg and  
one unsealed larva. Number of bees have dramatically dwindled. Most of  
the stored honey was gone.
The hive was doomed! My worst fears have materialized. I did not call  
Bob, just sent him an e-mail with the bad news and called Ted to  
confirm that I would need a NUC. Ted asked me to bring my hive to his  
yard on June 1. He asked if I knew how to seal the hive up before  
placing inside the car. Wouldn't be fun if they came out while I was  
driving, he cautioned. He would inspect the hive, determine what to do  
with the bees and set me up with a nuc.

On June 1, a hot and humid day, I packed up my rebellious bees and  
left for Ted's yard, a drive of nearly forty miles.  Ted, a stately  
octogenarian of Norwegian descent had nearly two hundred hives in his  
suburban yard. There were bees, bees and more bees everywhere. Oh yes,  
he had even more hives. He can't manage all any more. Five years back,  
he told me, he produced 20,000 lbs. of honey a year. Not as much any  
more, though. Makes more money now selling NUCs, bees. He can't keep  
up with demand, however, has to turn many down. Yes, he assured me,  
people in the beekeeping business do know about him.

Ted gave me a wheelbarrow to place my hive on and asked me to put on  
the bee-hat/mask and a long sleeved wind-breaker over my tee-shirt. He  
was already dressed for work, in white long-sleeved jacket, jeans,  
masked-hat. My guess was that he was outfitted like that most of the  
day. He had to. Overseeing that many hives is more than full-time  
work. I was thoroughly impressed. He asked me to follow him with the  
wheelbarrow to where his nuc nursery was. There he opened my hive,  
took out each frame of combs, shook the bees out on to the ground and  
placed the frames on the ground, one leaning against the other. I  
noticed he did not wear protective gloves, but the skin on his hands  
looked normal, not leathery like I imagined it could, from decades of  
bee stings. Deftly he cleared the rogue bees from my frames, with his  
bare hands. These bees were no good, he informed me. What will happen  
to them now? Oh, well, some might go take up home in other hives. The  
egg-layers and others will just die. Will the few stragglers on my  
combs be a problem? Nah, he assured me, the new bees of the nuc will  
far outnumber them and either kill them or they will just become a  
part of the new colony. Then he took out four nuc frames, one at a  
time,  from a nuc-hive. He asked me to hold them and inspect each  
frame. They were full of sealed worker cells, broods, both sides,  
neatly and tightly arranged, in the arched pattern. The corner cells  
were full of stored honey. Healthy looking , young worker bees were  
all over. Each frame was quite heavy. Ted was now looking for the  
marked queen. He showed me how to hold a bee and mark her. I was  
impressed how he caught a worker with his fingers, marked her for  
demonstration, without getting stung! The queen was hiding somewhere.  
Then he found her on one of the frames and showed me. He placed the  
four nuc frames and the queen in my hive and filled the remainder of  
the box with five of my old comb frames, minus rogue bees. Then he  
pulled out more frames from his nuc hive box and shook many many bees  
over my open hive box. The bees were flying all around, landing on the  
box and beginning to crawl in. Ted said we will have  to allow the  
bees to enter and  settle down in the hive. He showed me around some,  
I wrote him a check and in fifteen minutes returned to see that most  
of the bees have entered the box. Ted fashioned a wire-mesh screen for  
the entrance slot and jammed it in , placed the screened lid, and I  
was ready to return home. I placed the hive on the wheelbarrow. It was  
much heavier now and headed for my car.

An hour later I placed the newly stocked hive on the old stand next to  
the good hive. As soon as I removed the wire-mesh screen, zillions of  
bees came rushing out  in a torrent and swarmed around. But they were  
not aggressive. The troubled hive was back on track. I learned a lot,   
some the hard way. Bob told me I must write this all down and share my  
experience, and here we are. I will shorten this for our club journal.  
Bob was disappointed that I could not get it done for the last one  
that came out last week.

I hope to keep assamnetters updated on progress time to time. It has  
been a beautiful experience so far.

cm