If You Cannot Find Your Queen Bee - DO THIS

Is There A Queen In My Beehive - How to Find Queens - Finding Queens - Is There a Queen in my Hive?
Is there a queen in my beehive? Sometimes this is really difficult question to answer without doing a test.
Is my colony queenless? You need to add a frame of eggs - this is the the best method to test queen status.
Have you split your beehive and the virgin has failed to mate? Have you found a swarm of bees and they arent laying eggs. Have you accidently killed your queen and removed emergency cells? This video will show you how to find the queen in your beehive.
Adding a frame of eggs to a queenless colony gives them the resources needed to make a new queen. If there is no queen in the hive, they will draw emergency cells. If there is a mated OR VIRGIN queen in the hive, they will not use the larvae to create a new queen as they are a queenright colony. Its a really simple test to prove the queen status of a colony.
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[@paulcarruthers9027]

Hi,Went to find my Queen today,I haven't seen her since last August. I set everything thing up like your video, shook one frame ok shook the second ok went to do the third and quess who was walking along the top of frame ,yep the Queen, at least I know what to do next time I can't find her. Thank you for good videos.

[@danielrogerson6635]

Awesome advice. After spending 6 hours over 3 days trying to find the queen, I didn’t know what to do. This technique worked perfectly, within 30 minutes from start to finish. Thanks heaps

[@reade79]

Good vid and tip. Amazingly I had two Queens in the same hive. So I split one of them into a 3 frame nuc yesterday. Hopefully they'll build and she'll start to lay.

[@reefermaker]

Excellent timing. I've got some brood in all stages in a deep box above the queen excluder and I need to see if there's 2 colonies in one hive.

[@thedogpeople4320]

Terrific A clear succinct video addressing a common problem glossed over or ignored by most who like to produce bee keeping videos. Like others I’ll certainly be adding it to my repertoire- - specifically when I’ve ordered queens and don’t want to split.🙂

[@PaulDHampton]

Thanks for the video/tip. I have been struggling to find a queen in one of my hives for some time. So used this technique and it worked a treat.

[@grez33]

Certainly an interesting method so thanks for sharing.

[@annamineer2521]

I am a newbee and installed 2 nucs Monday. It was rainy and one of them was a bit aggressive so I didn't fool around. I installed them and put Boardman feeders with sugar water and left them for a few days. This morning, I found the queen on the second frame in the calm hive. Lots of uncapped larvae too. The aggressive nuc is a bit bigger and I couldn't find the queen anywhere, but they've installed 2 queen cups that weren't there 3 days ago. Wondering if they're requeening themselves...

[@CasasRocio]

This newbie thinks "Wow, this is definitely not easy!" Thanks for the video!

[@josephvogel7234]

I've spent too much time looking for unmarked queens in hives with mean bees. I've had to bank replacement queens while I search way too long for the old queen. I have added your technique to my repertoire and I am thanking you in advance for helping me find the elusive unmarked queen.

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Cheers Joseph. Hope you find it useful :D

[@robertchristian1664]

there is a much easier way to find the queen take a frame of sealed brood and put in the hive you can't find the queen leave for an hour and the queen you are looking for will be on that frame you put in far easier

[@pieblt3995]

​@@robertchristian1664 Why would the queen go to that frame?

[@robertchristian1664]

@@pieblt3995 she smells the brood of another queen and goes to investigate/fight

[@alrhon50]

You've explained it well, better than another clip I seen.

[@rogerwilson6367]

If I can see eggs/larva, I just say 'F**k it', especially if it's a hot day, the sweat is running in my eyes and I've been stung a couple of times. Works for me! (Alternative method)

[@BlackMountainHoney]

What if there are charged open queen cells and they are getting ready to swarm in the next 12-24 hrs?

[@rogerwilson6367]

@@BlackMountainHoney That's true. I had a hive that swarmed three times this year (within 2 weeks) and I don't think I ever found any queens or open queen cells, even though I know there was one the year before. It was a aggresive hive though and disliked any inspection.That's a lesson for people with my lack of patience I suppose.😊😊

[@simonwinstanley1105]

Thanks for this tip Laurence, good to know 👍

[@BlackMountainHoney]

No problem Simon 😊

[@dexstewart2450]

Cheers for this - great video: the only thing I would add is that I would put it all on a white sheet

[@livingstonsimmonds566]

that's a very good method for finding the queen I love it even though I don't have a problem finding them l just know where to find them once they are mated unmated queen no not so easy for me

[@barrymoore8228]

If you put gaffa tape round the top of the super box the bees are less likely to go over the sides

[@mikeofborg2]

Omg, I am doing this this weekend. My colonies are packed to the rim with bees. I have only been able to mark one queen. I know the others are queen right, because they are full of eggs and capped brood. This is going to make life so much easier. I’ll be able to fly through my other 4 using this and get them ladies marked.

[@drumcdoo9050]

Thanks for the great tip Laurence for when all other options fail. I'm new to bee keeping and being mentored by a an experienced keeper at a local bee keepers association. Installed a swarm into new hive and although queen had previously been marked in what was crusty green was not sure of age. Feel it would be good for all keepers to mark queens with two colours nationally to indicate year to get an idea if they need replacing. I know bee keepers paint a single colour designating year, however others mark with any colour available causing confusion. What are your thoughts on establishing two colour coding nationwide to help all beekeepers with aging queens?

[@dexstewart2450]

I only use White - and record the age of the Queen in my files

[@paulineolive940]

I believe there is an international colour coding scheme. White for years ending in 1 and 6, yellow for years ending in 2 and 7, red for years ending in 3 and 8, green for years ending in 4 and 9, and blue for years ending in 5 and 0. Which means if your queen was marked intentionally with green (and not because it was the colour the keeper always used) she would likely be a 2019 queen.

[@amywalsh4006]

You might have mentioned but just to be cleare, all frames go back in the same order, right? I understand they have a certain pattern with stores on the outside and brood on the inside

[@TalRohan]

I have one at the moment that is the best queen in the world at hiding...its like trying to find a red hat wally ina box full of maroon hat wally's I split off three frames two days ago and the only reason I know shes not on those is because there are eggs on the rest of the frames.

[@ahmedbounce3053]

That is a smart idea specially with a heavy colony like the one in the video

[@chrisallan751]

Is that ragwort by your hives? Watch out or it'll spread!. Keep on with the videos. They are very helpful. Thanks

[@peace7267]

stuffed if i could see a queen there, so easy eh

[@duncanphilps-tate2681]

I guess even if you STILL can't spot the queen you at least know you've isolated her, so ready for a Pagden or other where you need to know which box she's in but poss not down to the inch.

[@joychandrasinghshamjetshab9420]

How to remove honey bee from electric pole hole without cutting with queen

[@mauritzverster3435]

Laurence I am going to hold you to that statement I live here in South Africa extremely hard to find queens here.

[@scotthenderson4376]

I might have to try this. I have a nuc box with 2.5 frames of brood and for the life of me I can't find her. I've been looking for a week now acouple times a day.

[@jonmarcos8488]

Will this method work for virgin Queens?

[@davidupton5252]

I never need to do this as keeping bees for 30+ years, this year has been bad for one of my nucs been adding brood with very young larvae emergency queen cells pop ok Great then later within in a few days of them batching there all gone! Try to add a fresh queen not accepted I'm guessing have a virgin queen who is a duff queen no laying what so ever. Never ever seen her and I normally find any queen very fast unmarked can even spot virgin queens but not this one don't even have the workers and how the act give away where she is.

[@lideateapot1409]

At 7:57 on the wall of the box at the very middle it looks like you have a second Queen! On the top of wider scorched grain is it another Queen?

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Looks bigger doesnt it but it's just a regular worker bee 😀

[@boboften9952]

Finding the Queen " It's those kids Charles " " One of those kids is running wild " " The other is popular and well liked " ......

[@geckoproductions4128]

Well done, good explanation

[@veragiles981]

I'd struggle to lift the whole lot! But good tip. I found an elusive queen 2weeks ago who'd been laying really well and managed to mark her. But I think I must have let her back into the hive when the paint was still wet and now there are no eggs, no larvae and deep gloom from me. I think the bees must have killed her.

[@dexstewart2450]

Take a friend :)

[@BucksBeesS.C.]

I have had same problem. Marking queens I feel is a risk. Not worth it to me as long as I see larva and eggs. Eggs I have problem seeing so I settle for young larva and am happy with that. Marking queen the right way takes practice. I've marked many drones practicing. Still not worth the risk. I'm in S. C. Not that it make a difference. Good video

[@in5linesofcodeorless552]

First time I ever saw my queen: She was on the floor struggling to fit through the queen excluder

[@davidhefner5668]

Oxalic acid eats screened bottom boards and other metal componants.

[@garyholt9936]

okay this method didnt work i shook everything into the box smoked them a bit to push them into the box i searched and search still cant find her i even put the lid on and gave it few minutes for them to go down onto the comb searched again still couldnt find the queen i really dont get it she was late queen cell last yearbeen searching like a mad man since last year not sure what im going to do

[@billyc3584]

What are those gloves. I have canvas gloves. They are so bulky. Those look great. What are they?

[@rogerwilson6367]

They are washing up/surgical gloves. Leather/canvas gloves are hopeless for bee keeping, especially when they get sticky. Provided you don't squash a bee with your fingers you don't get stung any more often.

[@billyc3584]

@@rogerwilson6367 my canvas gloves are good they don't kill bees at all. I wash them off periodically they are just a little thick when picking up frames

[@rogerwilson6367]

@@billyc3584 That was the problem I always had with leather gloves. Picking them up and putting them back.

[@HMallory1]

Won't work every time , if she is not mated or is getting ready to swarm , ask me how I know? Been there and done that .

[@BlackMountainHoney]

True for not mated but id never be looking for virgins anyway. I've never failed to find one when i've done this and I only ever do it when they are going to swarm. Ive never seen them slim that down that much

[@citrumpet1]

Do you requeen all of your hives in the fall?

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Not all queens ever year. Try and get two years per queen

[@robertchristian1664]

you need two queen-right colonies. To find the queen in hive 1 take a frame of emerging brood from hive 2 and shake off the bees. Exchange it for a similar frame from hive 1. Close the hives and wait 20 minutes. The queen will be on that frame (because it smells different to her) less stress and easier

[@kennielsen8554]

No it doesn't work I just went out and it after reading this

[@georgegarcia5052]

Thanks for the information.

[@stevecoultas1900]

I am new to beekeeping. first year I trapped two swarms. this year I trapped two more. All are doing well. my only guide book is keeping bees with a smile. very hands off approach. I have never even looked for the Queen. why is that so important to so many beekeepers?

[@thedogpeople4320]

Good point, evidence of a good queen by the brood I find enough evidence , but ! , if brood shows an issue with the queen finding the queen - to replace her becomes important .

[@vnsfarm3013]

I want to buy bees queen Plz shiping vietnamesse

[@ippolitius]

I'm doing this tomorrow.

[@benjamindejonge3624]

Thanks

[@valentinewhitty3639]

When was this recorded?

[@BlackMountainHoney]

about 6 weeks ago

[@laminemohamed922]

طريقة رائعة شكرا سوف اجربها

[@hevchip741]

Great tip

[@richardsydenham4105]

Too much work !! try looking under the frames first just kip the brood chamber and the look at the top were the most bees are that is where you will find your Queen also the time of day and were the sun is, morning she is normaly on the East side and evenings on the northside

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Yes. Its a lot of work. But it works. Rarely used but handy to have in the arsenal for when you're ready to give up

[@johnbeard7404]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@allthingznatural5592]

Good video!

[@peterosborne9460]

I will try this tomorrow!

[@user-yq9ww8zw9m]

Hllo

[@alaettinkahraman6888]

Türkçe dil desteği neden yok ?..

[@ruiferreira2341]

Too much work...

[@madddog7]

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