Author Topic: queen release inspection (Read 2242 times)

pdmattox · « **on:** June 25, 2006, 06:32:22 pm »

On thursday i installed caged queens into hives that did'nt have a queen and there were no eggs or brood.
Hive # 12- queen was still in cage so i opened cage to let her out and off she flew, made a few orbits and flew away.???

Hive #15 queen was out and laying with all stages of brood present.

Hive # 17 queen was out and while checking for eggs found her on a frame dead with other bee's on her. On the same frame was a darker queen that must have been in there all along. This hive was a candidate for a queen due to no eggs,brood and no queen.

What should i do with #17?

what is going to happen with the queen from #12?

Hi-Tech · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2006, 06:45:07 pm »

#17... Catch & kill the existing queen, then requeen
#12.... look very carefully for a queen, then requeen if needed

pdmattox · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2006, 08:15:01 pm »

thanks Hi-Tech.

So the Queen that flew away i should consider gone for good or will she come back or what will happen?

Brian D. Bray · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2006, 08:17:24 pm »

On hive #12 requeening is called for. If Hive #17 has queen and is not laying kill her and try requeening. I usually wait 24 hours after killing a queen before introducing the new--not always necessary to wait that long but usually provides better succees rate than only waiting a few hours.
If you loose another queen on Hive #17 then I would put in a frame of brood and see if they build supercedure cells--this may not be a bad thing to do as well as requeening--doing both at the same time.

Michael Bush · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2006, 08:17:56 pm »

>Hive # 12- queen was still in cage so i opened cage to let her out and off she flew, made a few orbits and flew away.???

Next time leave the lid open on the hive and just stand there for ten minutes or until you see the queen again. She will orient on you and she will go by the nasonov pheromone that the bees will start fanning when they realize she's gone. I've had her land on my veil or my arm or on the hive. If you wait that long the queen will almost always return. As it is she MIGHT have made it back.

>Hive # 17 queen was out and while checking for eggs found her on a frame dead with other bee's on her. On the same frame was a darker queen that must have been in there all along. This hive was a candidate for a queen due to no eggs,brood and no queen.

Not, it wasn't a cadidate for a queen. It had one. You should have given them a frame of brood and in 48 hours you would have known there was a virgin in the hive or it was queenless. If they were queenless they would have built queen cells.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfallacies.htm

>What should i do with #17?

What do you want to do? They have a queen. What's the problem? In two weeks she'll be laying.

>what is going to happen with the queen from #12?

She either made it back or not. Look for eggs or a queen. She may have flown because they already have a queen, or she may have just flown because she panicked.