Hello,
A few days ago i made a few splits from 1 hive ( afternoon ) with swarm cells and placed them just a few meters away from the mother hive ( entrance closed with grass ). Next morning opened a small entrance pulling the grass a few cm ( about 12 hours ).
Of course i knew that foragers will go back, but success last year was the reason trying again.
What i need to know is how long can bees can stay closed into their new hives in order not to transfer. Ideally 3 days. Do they stress too much ? Temperature is now 15 night - 28+ day. Is there any danger for bees ? I use 5 frame boxes solid for those splits ( 3 frames inside ).
* next day bees gathered outside the entrance, like during summer. This happened only first day. Surprisingly 2-3 of them have too many foragers returning to the new location from day one ( they where not new to the job ).
Thank you, Thomas.