Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Pond Creek Farm on June 18, 2009, 09:52:28 pm
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One of our packages went queenless and then laying worker. I was about to shake it out when Robo and Irwin suggested I use a special cage that Robo built to introduce queens. Well, it worked for Irwin, and today I learned that it worked for me too. It did not quite work out as planned. The cage was in there for three weeks, but when I opened the hive a couple of days ago, all the attendants were dead and the queen was just running around inside the cage frame. To get her out, I had to remove the screen and shake her into the hive. I was worried about, but I do not have a lot time to wait on her. My worker force is declining daily. So today, I did an inspection and on the last frame (#10) I found a few bees about the size of a coffee cup diameter acting differently. I stared longer and found the queen and watched her lay in a few cells. I put it away happy that this worked and hopeful for its future.
I do have one question, however, should I be feeding now? They have the equivalent of one full frame of honey but it is scattered about on several frames.
Thanks to Robo and to Irwin for your help.
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I would feed 1:1 until they can build up the numbers. Preferably not an entrance feeder.
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>They have the equivalent of one full frame of honey but it is scattered about on several frames.
Feed --- also some pollen supplement would probably help too if you have none coming in or stored in comb.
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I'm glad it worked out for you :-D