Doing A Split Today ~ Making A Nuc

[Jen]

Hi kingd    How are your danes? would love a photo 

Yesterday when I put the queen cage in, I watched a bit. Then I saw four bees curl up tight right in the middle of the screen and it looked  to me that the ends of their abdomens were pressing on the screen, but I couldn't see if the stingers were out. So I decided not to take the chance.

You see in the cage there... is white hard candy for them to eat and feed the queen. And then on the very left of the cage there is a blob of fondant. So when I put this cage in the hive the bees will have eaten the fondant out in prob a couple days. There is not much a an acceptance period with these queens and cages. Used a different queen breeder this year, so learning a new way of acceptance. Crossing fingers.

[Jen]

Update on installing new queen into hive that was split ~~

Bad Sad news! I blew it! committed murder again  :\'(

After reading on this post that it is highly recommended to wait 24ish hours to install a queen in a hive that has just been split, of which I installed her right away after the split... I got worried about my queen and thought maybe I could lift the lid and check and maybe extract her. Too late. She was out of the cage but I still needed to know if she had been killed. Went thru the hive rather quickly hoping that she was still alive. Nope, she had obviously just been released and the bees had her on the bottom board balling her. She was still alive and I swooped up the ball of bees and tried to save her, but it was too late, too much damage. Thanks for listening to my sad story 

[Jen]

Wman, those vids really helped me out. Yesterday, I went to my other hive which was 24 hours after making the split and removing the queen. I followed this fellows advice, put a queen cage on top of the frames and just watched for awhile, picked up the cage and tried to sweep off the bees, it was much more successful, but there were still about 3 bees that were a bit harder to push off of the cage. So, I've waited another 24 hours. As soon as the rain lets up this morning I'll go back to the hive and try again.

[kingd]

Hi Jen!
It makes me feel bad every time  I lose a queen :\'(

Hows your Dane doing? Mine are good,gonna have to take some pictures of the girls

[CBT]

Sometimes this unforgiving/rewarding-hobby/addiction Let's us think we're getting better. Then I'll forget a basic rule of some kind and have a setback but, thank goodness I'm too stubborn to quit. But even with 2 steps forward and 1 step back I'm movin and shaking getting a little wiser every year. And so are you WWB/Jen.

[Jen]

Exactly CBD! I think you just summed it up right there! Stubborn 

[riverbee]

jen,
installing a queen in a fresh nuc that you want to add a caged queen..........and for everyone........
leave them queenless for at least 24 hours.
after 24 hours place the queen cage on top of the frames and watch the behavior of the bees. this is is a good indicator of whether or not she will be accepted.  do not release her even if the bees seem okay with her. ( i never release queens out of a cage).  put the cage in if you think reaction is relatively good.  you can also leave the cork in for anothr 24 hours if you are unsure, then remove the cork to expose the queen candy. 

if the bees react negatively when placing the cage on the tops of the frames, like you described jen, trying to sting through the cage, wait another 24 hours. try again. watch the reaction. queens can be okay in cages for a few days. just give a little swipe of water.  jz beez cages are great because there is more queen candy in the cage (typically) than in the traditional benton cages.

what you want to see are bees peeking up at the tops of the frames, filtering up to the cage, covering the cage, touching her or touching with antennae through the cage, and fanning. if you see fanning at or around the cage, odds are she will be accepted.  you don't want to see their abdomens or butts towards the cage, and you will clearly see this. if so, pull the cage, and wait another 24 hours.

[Jen]

Okay River, this is what I did... eh hem... after I blew it with the first queen 3 days ago. I installed them yesterday afternoon, and it appeared that the bees were simply crawling on the cage and eager, but not clinging madly to the cage. Then I installed the cage. Will be checking tomorrow.

[riverbee]

that's great jen! 

sorry, i am behind on posts, how did this go? were your queens released/accepted?

[Jen]

Hi Riv, not good news, or maybe uncertain news. Eight days later. I checked Hive #1, it appears queenless. Cage empty, not a single egg, cranky stinging bees. So I took a frame from a nuc that had about 20 1-2 day old eggs on it and put it into the center of the presumed queenless hive. I have marked on my calendar to check hive in 10 days for queen cells.

I'm baffled.

I have time tomorrow to check Hive #2. Crossing fingers

[riverbee]

hmmm, okay thanks jen, being testy is not always a sign of being queenless.......you said appears to be queenless? cage empty, but no eggs after 8 days.
did you look for her? you didn't mention this, so just asking. i know we all typically look for eggs, sometimes we need to determine if we have a queen.
you have experience with this........more than many.........

also,do you have feed on this nuc jen?

baffled?  lol, who doesn't get baffled?...........

[Jen]

I searched every frame. She was a marked queen, pink. Yes, been feeding with the buckets.

So, I figured if I put a frame of eggs in, and checked back in 10 days and found queen cells, that would tell me if they offed her.

She was in her cage for 3 days along with her attendants, they were given water each day, all alive when I put the cage in.

It was also not an over crowded hive, so wouldn't be too hard to spot her.

Befuddled