Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Beekeeping 101 => Topic started by: Green bee on May 08, 2017, 07:30:21 pm
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Ok so last Wednesday I did a split and introduced a caged queen. Went today to check on them and the queen was released. I noticed a small ball of bees on a frame. Sure enough they was trying to kill her. I was able to get her out and back in a cage but what do I do now. How long can she stay in the cage alone and should I try again. I no there's not another queen in the hive maybe they just didn't like her. I feel lucky to have caught it in time.
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Ah Geez! that happened to me too this year. I pushed the bees away and saved my queen too, however they had already done too much damage and she died promptly.
However, I have a vid that this guy shows on how to keep trying... I didn't know that if the bees didn't like her that they would hold this firmly to her cage...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQJ8bJj1XIs
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That's good to know Jen, what happened in my case is they eat through the candy and released her . And you may be right my queen my be dead to she's not moving much. Should I try to put her back if she lives and try again? Sounds like I need to look for queen cells to. I did give them a frame of eggs , large and capped brood when I did the split.
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Ok so my queen is alive and well ;D I went into the hive and found several queen cells and destroyed them. So I may have learned something from my experience. When doing a split and using a caged queen maybe it's a good idea if you don't put eggs or uncapped larva in with it? Does this sound correct? After destroying the queen cells I reintroduced her hopefully with better luck this time. Is there anything here I could be missing? Thanks in advance for your help.
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YAAAY! Have you tried to install her yet today?
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I put her in a cage that i will have to release her myself. I think I am gonna leave her til maybe Sunday before I bother them again. What do you think Jen does sound about right to you?
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Green Bee, the bees can adjust a lot to our bad choices. I put eggs and open larva in splits. Sometimes, bees protect a queen by balling her. They could have been protecting their queen from the big invader with a smoker and hive tool. ;)
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I was going to suggest waiting one more day so the bees can realize that the queen cells no longer exist. Let the bees get a concerned that there is no queen potential available at all. Then, do exactly what you did today. However, I haven't had the best of luck installing queens this year, so I'm pondering as well. I do know that when I've found a queenless hive, that has been queenless for a few days, and I order a queen, it gets to me overnight... I install her for the four day period... it never fails that they want that queen.
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Green Bee, the bees can adjust a lot to our bad choices. I put eggs and open larva in splits. Sometimes, bees protect a queen by balling her. They could have been protecting their queen from the big invader with a smoker and hive tool. ;)
haha you might be right ....this has been a good learning experience for me. I am just glad my queen is still alive. I read somewhere bees are reluctant to accept a queen if they have built cells. Is this right? The two queens I introduced earlier this year you could here a sudden change in the bees as soon as she was released. When I found this queen, the whole hive was really loud and seemed somewhat different from my other hives. That's the main reason I pulled her out and caged her again. My gut feeling is they would have killed her but I can't be sure.
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I was going to suggest waiting one more day so the bees can realize that the queen cells no longer exist. Let the bees get a concerned that there is no queen potential available at all. Then, do exactly what you did today. However, I haven't had the best of luck installing queens this year, so I'm pondering as well. I do know that when I've found a queenless hive, that has been queenless for a few days, and I order a queen, it gets to me overnight... I install her for the four day period... it never fails that they want that queen.
I thought about what your saying when I put her back, the weather here has been up and down the past day or so. And with the forecast as it is now I decided to go ahead and try again. I don't think there is anymore resources available for them to start more queen cells as it was last Wednesday when she was originally installed. And I could be wrong about that because I am not sure what is the oldest larva they could make a queen with. I guess I could have kept her out for a few hours anyway. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks Jen!!
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Sure Thing Gbee! I do like what Lee said too. Sometimes there just isn't an answer. I make a habit of only giving advice from my own experience. Crossing my fingers for you too ;) 8)
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Well after asking around I asked Wally today what he thought . He told me if there wasn't anymore queen cells to release her today. So we just got back and it seems as though shes going to be good now. Bees seemed a little happier to. No balling going on. I'll go back in a week and check for eggs and larva. Wish me luck! ( well this far I've been pretty lucky) ;D ;D ;D
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Green Bee, the bees can adjust a lot to our bad choices. I put eggs and open larva in splits. Sometimes, bees protect a queen by balling her. They could have been protecting their queen from the big invader with a smoker and hive tool. ;)
thought it was worth mentioning Wally said the same thing you said Lburou. I guess great minds think alike :D...thanks for your help it is much appreciated sir :)
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thought it was worth mentioning Wally said the same thing you said Lburou. I guess great minds think alike :D...thanks for your help it is much appreciated sir :)
Well Green Bee, a stopped clock is right twice a day. ;)
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Well just an update. My new queen is happy and laying up a storm, lots of eggs. This has been my best learning experience with bees to date. I feel like I got lucky in a lot of ways to be successful this far with this split. Now I'll let them do there thing and check them in a few weeks. Thanks for all the helps guys I really appreciate it :yes:
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Good news :yes: