This has been a whole new adventure for me. My father and I have always done splits allowing the nucs to make their own queens. Really wanted to try out the new Minn. Hyg. queens and maybe sell a couple of nucs after splitting again next spring.
Placed 3 new Minn. Hyg. queens in nucs today. Amazingly, before this, I was still have not able to find the queens in 5 out of the 6 nucs from the 3 original hives. Based which hives I placed the new queens in on age of larva, didn't think I could see any new eggs and the fact that each nuc had a queen cell or two fully formed. Would you have done the same?
When I placed the cage down between racks, workers jumped all over the screens. We both looked and were pretty confident that the bees were sticking their tongues thru the screen and were not biting. I left her in the cage with both cork ends still capped. Will go by tomorrow or Thursday to see if I can let her out. Is the tongue thru the cage an immediate sign that they are taking the new queen?
Thanks gang...
Topic: New Queen acceptance? (Read 1222 times)