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Author Topic: How long can I wait to release the queen  (Read 2290 times)

Offline Wombat2

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How long can I wait to release the queen
« on: January 22, 2015, 07:42:21 am »
I have been offered a queen with attendants that didn't quite make it back to the hive after an aborted swarm. ( I trust the beek so it should be good) I want to introduce her to a new Nuc yet to be put together but the weather has just turned very wet (why the swarm aborted)

How long can I keep her in a cage until the weather dries enough to open a hive and steal some broad and nurse bees etc to to put a Nuc together? They are forecasting up to a week of wet weather.
David L

Offline JackM

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Re: How long can I wait to release the queen
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2015, 08:54:38 am »
If your weather is warm enough, do it during a break in the rain.  You risk loosing her if you wait a week
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: How long can I wait to release the queen
« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2015, 09:38:35 am »
Give them one (not more, not less) drop of water per day and keep them in a quiet dark place.  You can keep them a week if you have to, assuming young attendants.  If the attendants start dying you need to put her in a hive or replace the attendants.
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Offline iddee

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Re: How long can I wait to release the queen
« Reply #3 on: January 22, 2015, 10:50:26 am »
If you have an excluder on a hive, you can quickly open it and place her cage on the top frames. The bees will care for her if the queen of the hive cannot get up to her.
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Offline Wombat2

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Re: How long can I wait to release the queen
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2015, 07:52:44 am »
Thanks for the replies - I was gearing up to follow the suggestions when I checked the weather radar and saw a window of about an hour so quickly put together a nuc. Interesting the girls were very docile and didn't get upset in the least. Trouble was - no lava so the queen may have absconded - a couple of supersedure cells so left them to look after themselves and took what I could with some brood and hope for the best. The new queen is now safe and sound in the nuc.
David L

Offline GSF

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Re: How long can I wait to release the queen
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2015, 08:51:27 pm »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX3BgnOkozs

This is a video from Michael Palmer - How to tell if a hive is queenless (probably could have named it how to tell if the bees are ready to accept a new queen - or not)
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Offline Wombat2

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Re: How long can I wait to release the queen
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2015, 08:34:49 am »
Now that is real interesting !
David L