Caught a small swarm but they were nice and gentle.
Did a cut-out, the guy said the hive was exposed and was about 2yrs old, right! The comb was so old and nasty, I didn't use any of it. It was like cutting through leather. I saw the queen early on and got her later but she looked kinda small, no worries.
Like I said the comb was old, so I decided to treat them like a swarm, with the box method. I placed the caged queen inside the box with a a frame of brood and some brood comb, and cut me a flap so they could get in. The bees were gentle, even though the homeowner got stung about 5 times.
I told him not to flail, but he decided that flailing was something he must do, and he paid for it. I got stung by accident when one crawled up my sleeve and that was it. They were gentle bees trust me, but if you want to act like a dingbat, I don't think bees like dingbats.
Anyway, I decided to place a piece of comb with pollen and honey atop the box, while I picked up my tools etc..., to allow the bees time to orient to the box. Oh, and I left my roll of duct tape on top the box, didn't know bees liked duct tape so much.
Once I picked up, I decided to remove that one comb section, which was covered in bees.
Wouldn't you know the first queen that I spotted, the plump one, was on that section of comb, I was about to throw away. I caged her and put her through the flap. Two queens in the box, pretty neat. Will be a queen show down tonite in the box for sure, I guess.
Oh, and some kids decided to spray paint the exposed comb, idiots huh?
http://picasaweb.google.com/pyxicephalus/March262008...JP
Topic: A Cut-Out With Two Queens & A Swarm (Read 2703 times)