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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #7891  by AdamD
 22 Jun 2020, 13:21
I had a failed introduction about 10 days ago. The old queen had been caged for a week before being removed and there were no quencells. New queen was nowhere to be found a week later. Now a test-frame has gone in, just to check. This, for me, is not a good time of the year to introduce queens.
 #7892  by AdamD
 22 Jun 2020, 13:39
Looked through a colony a week ago; I didn't think it had swarmed but there was no brood at all (hadn't inspected for a while!) and no signs of queencells, but I thought that a queencell might have been torn down, so I left it for a week. This weekend I found the queen with barely visible marking. I gently pinned her to the frame to mark her before I had done a complete inspection as I didn't know what I would find, however she whipped around the frame and was gone or I would have caged her. I checked through both brood boxes twice and couldn't find her again. Bees weren't stingy but had no liquid stores in the boxes at all so were quite mobile as they had no honey to draw on after smoking. Eventually I put the hive back together with the view that I would search again the next day and do something, maybe cage the queen at least and or put a frame of brood in from a nearby hive.
In the evening I noticed that a lot of bees were fanning at the entrance - an indication of a lost queen, after a careful look, a few feet away on the grass was the clipped queen with a few bees around her. She must have dropped off a frame from the brood box I had resting on a (WBC) lift to the side of the hive when I was inspecting everything. Caged, she is now on the landing board. A job for tonight to do something with them. I have laying queens, but too young to introduce just yet. And with no forage at all, the chances of a successful introduction are not so high.
 #7898  by NigelP
 22 Jun 2020, 18:18
AdamD wrote:
22 Jun 2020, 13:21
I had a failed introduction about 10 days ago. The old queen had been caged for a week before being removed and there were no quencells. New queen was nowhere to be found a week later. Now a test-frame has gone in, just to check. This, for me, is not a good time of the year to introduce queens.
I've given up, trying to introduce queens to full hive. It's fraught with problems.
My standard approach these days is to not rush it. New queen in nuc and sat next to hive I want to requeen. Upgrade nuc to hive at the same time you move the "awkward" hive somewhere else, this bleeds off the older fliers back into "nuc".
Then find queen in horrible hive, (RIP) and air freshener unite...
To date 100% success rate....not sure it will stay at that rate forever thought.
just done 2 today and another couple planned for later this week.
 #7899  by Steve 1972
 22 Jun 2020, 20:02
On Saturday i united a brood box with a 2019 laying Queen over a colony with a Virgin that i splattered before the unite..i also put a test frame in two suspected Queen minus colonies..

Today i went to check on them..the news paper was shredded under the hive from the unite and all around which meant the bees had mixed..the Queen was there but strangely stuck head first in a Queen cup with a worker on her back behaving aggressively towards her..i freed her and this single bee seemed to be trying to Shepard the queen in one direction so i splattered the worker and the Queen did what Queens normally do to get out of the light with no other bees interested in her..(tender hooks for me on next inspection).. :?:

I was correct with one of the two Queen minus colonies after seeing multiple charged Queen cells on the test frame..
The other test frame on the mongrel colony was as it should look but i still think it has a scrub Queen in there..

Gladly the colony with the test frame that produced Queen cells where the offspring of a Queen i Nuced during swarm attempts earlier so hopefully it should be a easy unite which was done with news paper AND air freshener..
The hive is bursting with bees and after the second brood box is removed it will be jam packed..i also removed a brood box from a double brood(Queen status uncertain) to compact that colony also..

Here is today's unite laying 2019 Queen in the top brood box....i would normally only news paper unite the two brood boxes but both hives had two and three super on them full of bees so the lot had to go on together with a bit of Airwick 6in 1 here and there..


Image
 #7900  by NigelP
 22 Jun 2020, 20:16
6 in 1 every time. Works a treat and instant.
I worry about Newspaper unites when it's hot .
Bees cannot control temperature if restricted and cannot get to water.
To date 100% success. with air freshener unites.... It can't last... :)
 #7901  by Steve 1972
 22 Jun 2020, 20:32
I was also worried about the news paper but not so much the heat with them being poly...we have a flow here that never seems to end that is my worry..hopefully (good or bad) the bees get through the paper quicker and allow bees full of nectar to do there job..
 #7906  by AdamD
 23 Jun 2020, 17:12
NigelP wrote:
22 Jun 2020, 18:18

I've given up, trying to introduce queens to full hive. It's fraught with problems.
This time of the year, definitely. However, as it was my own 'strain' I was hopeful it would work.
Yes, patience is a virtue!

How long a squirt of air-freshner is used?
 #7907  by NigelP
 23 Jun 2020, 17:39
How long is a piece of string?
A liberal dose to top of one box and bottom of the other. Tip and spray that one.
I don't think you can overdo it. It might be better to be OTT, but seems to work regardless.
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