Killed my queen tonight

[slacker361]

her majesty was on the lid when I opened the hive. I tried my best as gentle as I could to get he back in the hive, but i must of banged her, she isn't looking so good..... kinda laying on her side... she is a new queen I just hope she laid some eggs before the assanition attempt ....darn.....

[AllenF]

I had one on the inner cover last time I opened hives and she just did not want to go back into the hive.  They are funny sometimes. 

[Kathyp]

usually they'll smoke down.  i don't even look.  guess i will from now on!

[bee-nuts]

I think I did one in the other day marking her, it made me sick to my stomach for the rest of the day.

[FRAMEshift]

Last time I inspected our best hive, I smoked from the bottom and removed the migratory cover.  15 minutes later the inspection is done, I had not seen the queen, and I picked up the migratory cover to replace it.  And there is the queen, along with maybe five workers... just sitting on the inside of the cover.  I VERY CAREFULLY  replaced the cover, trying not to crush the queen.

Since then, I've been smoking from the top.   :-D

[Finski]

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Bye a new queen

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[Kathyp]

because i work my  hives from the back, i always puff a little smoke under the inner cover before i pull it.  i go down the line and puff under each, then go back to the first and start working.  maybe that's why i don't find the queen at the top.  i almost never smoke the entrance.

[bee-nuts]

I lied, my queen is good as ever, lol!  I think I just took the wind out of her.  Today I inspected the yard and went strait to the colony of this queen figuring to surly find several emergency cells only to find lots of nice young larva and eggs and then the beauty her self with a nice yellow disc on her back.  Not one emergency cell.  I could not believe my eyes.  I am so happy about it, I was like a kid on x-mas morning after opening the present I have always wanted, lol!

[asprince]

My mentor says they sometimes faint after being marked. I don't mark for fear of killing her. I let my friend/mentor do it so I can blame him if something goes wrong.

Steve

[slacker361]

well that would be cool is she just fainted......fingers crossed

[bee-nuts]

about queens on lids I have had that happen a couple times.  Once I had a queen fall on my foot and I would not have seen her if she was not marked, lol!  She was not on the lid but I have seen queens on the lid too.  I have also pulled the outside frame and then looked for the queen only to find her on the frame I set aside when putting the frame back in lol!  I do as Kathy does but I do three to six hives from the entrance then come back to the first one and crack the cover and give em some smoke.  If I am just doing a swarm check I just pop boxes up and smoke the crack, tip up and look under it, set aside and go down to second to bottom box tip that up, if no queen cells, larva or eggs in cups I just put em back together other than pulling one frame or two out of brood nest to check brood pattern.  If I am doing a thorough inspection I do the same thing but I stack all the boxes in different locations so the queen cant move from box to box.  I dont use enough smoke to run the queen cause I can usually almost call the two or three frames I will find her on.