I got an Lasius niger queen end of july (mated) only she has produced no ants, afew eggs but they just stay as eggs. It's aprocing hibernation time now will she survive? Is this common my other 3 Queens have workers (17, 3, to many to count).
are they still eggs and larve or are some at the pupa stage?
but if not she should be ok from my experince but that may have just been luck.
Eggs don't survive the hibernation, larvae do. It could be that she will start producing workers after hibernation but my guess is that she is not strong enough to start a colony.
I think that the eggs that she laid are maybe trophic eggs? Anyway how long ago did she laid eggs? It isn't possible to reduce the hybernation period with about 2-3 weeks to allow the eggs to become larvae (this off course assuming that the eggs have just been laid) ... and during this time to try feeding the queen with small freshly killed insects? I know that normally it isn't necessary to feed the queen, but I am afraid that she wont last through hibernation and even if she does I don't see her becoming that egg laying machine you know... so this is why I'm saying that maybe he try to feed here ... doing this will off course interfere in the mother nature's business ... natural selection and so on ... :roll:
The eggs were laid a long time ago and so i think they may be trophic eggs. I'll try and give her she protien jelly. It's a shame she is very healthy other wise.
Trophic eggs ? (can someone explain that to me ? ;) )
You could delay the hibernation a bit until the eggs go into larvae. But like you said, they eggs are already a few months old so it will not help if you give them another few weeks.
It could be that she seems healthy, doesn't mean she is. :)
The eggs were laid a long time ago and so i think they may be trophic eggs. I'll try and give her she protien jelly. It's a shame she is very healthy other wise.
Hello. I think they are indeed trophic eggs, so the queen will probably eat them. Instead of protein jelly you may want to feed her freshly killed insects, or maybe even small (dead) spiders because the latter are richer in protein. Anyway keep us informed and hope you have good luck with your young and rebel queen ;)