Oh No! Cause For Alarm! Queen Is Outside The Hive!!!

[Jen]

I stepped outside to empty the garbage and saw this...  the upper entrance is clustered with bees. No aggression at all, but there are about 3-4 pairs of bees on the grounds rolling around. I spotted the queen on the top edge of the lid, ran and got my queen cage and nabbed her.

She would have had to come thru the upper entrance, this means she left the brood medium which is two mediums down, then came across the honey and out the upper entrance.

I don't know what to do! and I'm heading for the airport in a couple of hours.

[riverbee]

well, put her back in there!.........

are you sure this is this hive's queen jen?

are the bees acting aggressively towards her in that clip?

[Gypsi]

leave her in the clip in hive til you get back from airport. She may not be the only queen

[Gypsi]

or put clip in OPEN envelope, allow air not too much and stick her on top of your refrigerator til you get home.  Haste makes messy situations

[Jen]

No Riv, they are very quiet, just keeping her covered.

I guess then that I could take the lid off and let her back in thru the hole of the inner cover? or should I scoot the honey medium over a bit and make sure she goes right back into the brood box

[riverbee]

scoot the honey medium over a little, and let her loose in the brood box, she should go down in the hive, not sure what she was doing wandering around.
if they are very quiet and protecting her, good sign.

if your not sure about it, do as gypsi said, and then figure out if there's another queen in there when you return from the airport. 

[riverbee]

jen, did you recently treat this hive with OA? or have it open in the past couple days, or yesterday?

[Jen]

Yep, I treated with OA a week ago, then did an inspection three days ago. This is the hive we have been disgussing whether to remove the deep all together or place it on top and let the bees fill it out more and feeding.

[riverbee]

hmm, okay.......

[iddee]

I would release her into the bottom entrance, just because it is easiest, and any odor she is trying to escape from will be lighter down there.

[Jen]

Mkay, that's a good idea... Iddee are your relatively sure she belongs to this hive?

This is what the top entrance looks like now that she has been caged and it's been about an hour. I have her and some attendance in the cage and in a small box with the lid open just a tiny bit in the garage, can she stay like this until late this afternoon, it's 11:00am here now.

[iddee]

If she is from another hive, I would want her dead.

Put a drop of honey or sugar water on the cage and she should be fine.

[Jen]

Iddee- "If she is from another hive, I would want her dead.

   The thing I want to know is, can you tell from your experience, and by the cluster of bees that are still at the upper entrance, if this could be her hive.

    Or, did you mean, that if I put her back in the lower entrance, if she's not the queen, the bees will kill her anyway?

    Okay, I'll put a drop of honey on the cage until I get back from the airport.

Thanks you guys!

   

 

[riverbee]

jen, you have the quirkiest bees on the planet. i agree with iddee about sending her through the bottom entrance, rather than opening up to the brood box.  if the bees weren't trying to ball her, or bite, or sting her (kill her) through the queen clip, and appeared to be protecting her. it's her hive. 

EDIT AND ADD:
ps maybe the queen will get a clue now and lay some in the bottom deep she seems to be avoiding.........

[iddee]

I think she just stepped outside her own hive to escape an odor she didn't like.

 If she is from another hive, I would not want to keep a queen that abandoned her hive, so let the bees do the deed.

[riverbee]

would guess maybe as iddee said, an odor that sent her out jen.  being not familiar with oxalic acid, and a recent treatment of the hive, this would be my guess. 

[Gypsi]

my interest in treating with OA went out the door with that queen. My 48 hour sticky results are 2 - 4 and 2.  I will recheck when it cools off again and after some brood hatches out, but I'm not treating for the moment.

[Jen]

Riv- "jen, you have the quirkiest bees on the planet. i agree with iddee about sending her through the bottom entrance, rather than opening up to the brood box.  if the bees weren't trying to ball her, or bite, or sting her (kill her) through the queen clip, and appeared to be protecting her. it's her hive. 
 
      No Kidding Right! Barry says I have Special Ed bees... I say I have Gifted bees  Aahhahaha

      Ya, there was no aggression going on at all, it appeared as tho the bees were quietly covering her while in the cage.

      Just got back home and the top entrance is clear, I'll have to take off the robbing screen so I can make sure she goes thru the bottom entrance. Then put it back on.

      I may have an answer for this, I'll get back to ya later.

Gypsi, I have done many applications of OA and have never run into this sitch before. And, OA doens't smell anything as yucky and Formic Acid. But, then again, I done have a bee nose either... shrug 

     

[Jen]

Update - That took about 15 minutes. Interesting event here, I took the queen in clip plus about 7 attendants to the bottom opening. Took the robbing screen off so I could be sure and see her come out and walk into the hive. When I opened up the clip there were bees on her and definately one that I know for sure was stinging her. Yup! somethings wrong.

So I did what Iddee said and will let the bees take care of it, she definately disappeared inside whether walked or dragged. I'll keep a look out on the ground for her tomorrow ~

So many questions now. How should I proceed from this point.

It's late in the year, so if they make another queen...well I'm not seeing hardly and drones, most are dead on the ground.

Should I wait two weeks and try and find a queen or eggs? Can she even get mated this time of year?

 

[iddee]

I would look in one week. No eggs and no queen cells, combine.

My guess is, you will have eggs and open brood of all ages, and all will be fine.