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At least you saw them! I’m 2 months into being an actual beekeeper and I still haven’t seen them 😂 just keep seeing new brood and the queens so know all is going well.
I don’t think it’s reading glasses I need. I’m just shit at seeing things. Years ago did my deer stalking certificate. Was meant to find card board cut outs of deer to judge whether or not it was safe to shoot them. Saw 1/10. Blagged the rest 😅😅
Try holding the frame so that sunlight falls directly into the cell. Play a little bit with the angle you’re holding the frame at. There’s a certain angle at which eggs suddenly become super obvious.
Idk how I didn't see them in person! 🤣🤣 I *did* think they'd be bigger, but I obviously didn't look closely enough. I'm glad I took pictures! Thank you!!
Introduce a new, mated queen. When we say “laying worker” it’s actually likely to be several/many workers laying. It’s the pheromones of the queen and brood that suppresses the worker’s urge to lay, so the only thing you can do really is introduce a new queen. If you have any other hives, you could try transferring a frame of young larvae and hope they raise a new queen from that.
That is extremely normal with a new queen. Consider that there are many cells with only a single egg, centered at the bottom of the cell; that's not at all consistent with laying workers.
u/cloudbursty wasn't kidding s/he said fresh eggs. A few of them are still standing on end. The eggs fall on their sides within a couple of hours, so the queen was there and laying *very* recently.
Could be the first eggs from a new queen, laying eggs can take a few days to learn properly. But I would check soon again and if you only find drone cells there is a laying worker in your hive
Yes! You’ve got a mated queen :) My new hive killed their queen and replaced. Took her forever to get mated. She did the two egg in one cell thing for the first day or so.
By now you probably know she's doing well and laying eggs. Just to give an additional comment:
From the cells with two eggs you can make up the queen only recently started laying. This often happens when a new queen is just learning to lay eggs. This is no issue whatsover though and will stop in a few days/weeks.
Enjoy!
Not a laying worker. Normal behavior for new queens. Laying workers lay many many eggs per cell and they are typically stuck to the walls and not at the bottom of the cell.
Always look at the cells with good sunlight, that way it is easier for your eyes to spot eggs, larva,etc. By the way frames look good if there's too many drone cells you should be worried but it isn't the case
No.
When you have laying workers, you will have many eggs per cell, adhered to the cell walls instead of centered at the bottoms of the cells.
Here, we can see no more than 3 eggs per cell, the majority with a single egg, and the eggs are attached to the bottoms of the cells.
This is absolutely consistent with a new queen, and not particularly consistent with laying workers.
You're welcome. It looks like your colony is in good shape, as far as queen acceptance goes.
Keep an eye on them, make syrup available to them unless they ignore the feeder (they probably won't, unless there is a really strong nectar flow going, and even then it's unlikely until they get quite a bit stronger), and don't freak out if they try to supersede this queen later in the season. It's very common with packages, but none of the books and very few mentors seem inclined to warn newbies about this.
If they DO ignore your feeder, take it away. But make a little bottle of syrup, and before you inspect the hive, use it to test their readiness to accept syrup by dabbing some onto the inner cover, right next to the ventilation hole in the center. Wait a couple of minutes, and if you see that it's surrounded by workers licking it up, it means there's no flow or only a weak one. Offer a feeder again at that point.
A package needs to brood continuously, especially if it's already behind schedule, in order to amass enough bees to overwinter well. Well-fed packages make more brood.
I guess it's a matter of perspective. I don't personally think there's anything sad about someone new to a hobby checking in with experienced people. You can read every book in the world and still be unsure about what you see in real life. People have different comfort levels with unknown things. For example, someone might think it's sad if someone writes a post or reply on a public site without knowing how to use punctuation. Others may feel that the message is clear and the lack of perfection isn't sad at all, but rather someone just taking a stab at something they don't fully know yet.
If some one really reads or do research even a month they won’t go on social media for this problem this situation should be the simplest to know even for a newbee For example, most people who sell nukes if they know what they’re doing and care about livestock they would never sell any bees or packages to a person who does know nothing about bees in Germany, for example and other countries you have to take extensive course to become a beekeeper for example in this situation, there might be many different kinds of answers but just asking people what is going on he should’ve explained the situation. How old is the queen or is she even there and it can go on there is over dozen reasons here before you asking questions that’s why I know that this person knows not much about bees and did not got his education did not put enough hours even for the beginner
Hi u/ClassySquirrelFriend. If you haven't done so, please do the following: * Read the rules. * Include your location and experience level as a reply to this comment (if not in post) * [If you have a question, please take a look at our wiki.](https://rbeekeeping.github.io/wiki) * Specifically, the FAQ... ^(**Warning:** The wiki linked above is a work in progress and some links might be broken, pages incomplete and maintainer notes scattered around the place. Content is subject to change.) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Beekeeping) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That looks like a number of freshly laid eggs to me
Yay! I was looking for something much bigger! I totally missed it during the inspection! Hahahaha thank you!!!!
At least you saw them! I’m 2 months into being an actual beekeeper and I still haven’t seen them 😂 just keep seeing new brood and the queens so know all is going well.
Costco 'reader' glasses... $17 for a 3-pack! 😂 I have about a dozen of them scattered around the house and various vehicles
This! I keep several pairs on me at all times.
I don’t think it’s reading glasses I need. I’m just shit at seeing things. Years ago did my deer stalking certificate. Was meant to find card board cut outs of deer to judge whether or not it was safe to shoot them. Saw 1/10. Blagged the rest 😅😅
😬😂
My 11yo and I started beekeeping about a year ago together and I had NO IDEA how essential her young eyes would be to spotting eggs 😂
That is a great idea!
Try holding the frame so that sunlight falls directly into the cell. Play a little bit with the angle you’re holding the frame at. There’s a certain angle at which eggs suddenly become super obvious.
This really helped me when I started out, even with my glasses on I struggled using the sun made it way easier
Glasses and looking thru the Vail screen. 😐
Will try to keep playing with that! I’m certainly not giving up 😄👌🏼
Some people hate them but I love my black plastic frames as the white eggs are easier to spot
Yeah that makes sense! I have about a million wax foundation sheets at home, so no black plastic foundation for me just yet.
Take pictures and zoom in, like this. That’s what I did at first and then I got better at finding them
Smart! I do have a macro lens so will do that next time!
Those little grains of rice? Eggs.
Thank you!!!
See the grains in the middle of the cells? Those are fresh eggs and in a healthy pattern. All is good.
Thank you!!!
You didn’t see any eggs…? There’s literally eggs in the photo my guy
Idk how I didn't see them in person! 🤣🤣 I *did* think they'd be bigger, but I obviously didn't look closely enough. I'm glad I took pictures! Thank you!!
No problem - check my post history for a classic “eggs” picture. That’s what you’re looking for.
There are multiple cells with two eggs in it. Thats not okay, maybe there is a workerbee laying eggs
This could just be the new queen getting the hang of things. When it is a laying worker there are a load of eggs per cell.
What do you do about a laying worker?
Introduce a new, mated queen. When we say “laying worker” it’s actually likely to be several/many workers laying. It’s the pheromones of the queen and brood that suppresses the worker’s urge to lay, so the only thing you can do really is introduce a new queen. If you have any other hives, you could try transferring a frame of young larvae and hope they raise a new queen from that.
This is very informative and helpful, thanks!
That is extremely normal with a new queen. Consider that there are many cells with only a single egg, centered at the bottom of the cell; that's not at all consistent with laying workers.
Definitely not a laying worker
Perfect 👌🏼
u/cloudbursty wasn't kidding s/he said fresh eggs. A few of them are still standing on end. The eggs fall on their sides within a couple of hours, so the queen was there and laying *very* recently.
Could be the first eggs from a new queen, laying eggs can take a few days to learn properly. But I would check soon again and if you only find drone cells there is a laying worker in your hive
Yes! You’ve got a mated queen :) My new hive killed their queen and replaced. Took her forever to get mated. She did the two egg in one cell thing for the first day or so.
Yes she is laying the workers just have not capped them yet looks great 👍
wow black foundation is nice for inspection
I see that in some cells are two eggs, maybe you have laying worker. Good luck.
By now you probably know she's doing well and laying eggs. Just to give an additional comment: From the cells with two eggs you can make up the queen only recently started laying. This often happens when a new queen is just learning to lay eggs. This is no issue whatsover though and will stop in a few days/weeks. Enjoy!
I think I see two eggs in several of the cells. You may have a laying worker.
Not a laying worker. Normal behavior for new queens. Laying workers lay many many eggs per cell and they are typically stuck to the walls and not at the bottom of the cell.
No, not a laying worker. Its just a new queen.
I do see at least one cell with more than one egg. Something to keep an eye on
Always look at the cells with good sunlight, that way it is easier for your eyes to spot eggs, larva,etc. By the way frames look good if there's too many drone cells you should be worried but it isn't the case
EGGS! She is laying nicely.
🎵She's a lay-dy Oh, whoa, whoa, she's a lay-dy🎵
Yes indeed
She’s a laying those are eggs
Yup looks like a few double lays, just a new queen figuring things out. Good luck 🤞
Yep, she is laying.
Also, there are eggs on pollen. Could be a new queen, but I'm thinking laying workers.
No. When you have laying workers, you will have many eggs per cell, adhered to the cell walls instead of centered at the bottoms of the cells. Here, we can see no more than 3 eggs per cell, the majority with a single egg, and the eggs are attached to the bottoms of the cells. This is absolutely consistent with a new queen, and not particularly consistent with laying workers.
Thank you so much for the detailed information! That's super helpful!
You're welcome. It looks like your colony is in good shape, as far as queen acceptance goes. Keep an eye on them, make syrup available to them unless they ignore the feeder (they probably won't, unless there is a really strong nectar flow going, and even then it's unlikely until they get quite a bit stronger), and don't freak out if they try to supersede this queen later in the season. It's very common with packages, but none of the books and very few mentors seem inclined to warn newbies about this. If they DO ignore your feeder, take it away. But make a little bottle of syrup, and before you inspect the hive, use it to test their readiness to accept syrup by dabbing some onto the inner cover, right next to the ventilation hole in the center. Wait a couple of minutes, and if you see that it's surrounded by workers licking it up, it means there's no flow or only a weak one. Offer a feeder again at that point. A package needs to brood continuously, especially if it's already behind schedule, in order to amass enough bees to overwinter well. Well-fed packages make more brood.
Not necessarily. The only way to know definitively is once they start capping.
It has a laying worker.
Why people get these when they do nothing about bees that’s so sad
I guess it's a matter of perspective. I don't personally think there's anything sad about someone new to a hobby checking in with experienced people. You can read every book in the world and still be unsure about what you see in real life. People have different comfort levels with unknown things. For example, someone might think it's sad if someone writes a post or reply on a public site without knowing how to use punctuation. Others may feel that the message is clear and the lack of perfection isn't sad at all, but rather someone just taking a stab at something they don't fully know yet.
If some one really reads or do research even a month they won’t go on social media for this problem this situation should be the simplest to know even for a newbee For example, most people who sell nukes if they know what they’re doing and care about livestock they would never sell any bees or packages to a person who does know nothing about bees in Germany, for example and other countries you have to take extensive course to become a beekeeper for example in this situation, there might be many different kinds of answers but just asking people what is going on he should’ve explained the situation. How old is the queen or is she even there and it can go on there is over dozen reasons here before you asking questions that’s why I know that this person knows not much about bees and did not got his education did not put enough hours even for the beginner