>?1. Is how long to wait to give them a new queen the old one is going to be
>left in the
>wall after all the workers come out?
>?2. If anybody else has tryed this before I would like to know how your job
>turned out
>in the end?
 
Hi,
I am a pretty new bee-person, but this year I got two batches of worker bees
out of a tree in just the way you are saying.  Note I did not eliminate the
hive in the tree.  I just got enough bees out to support the new queen and a
frame of brood that I hung in the tree beside the knothole that was their
door.  I put the new queen and brood in a brood chamber at the same time
that I put the funnel on the tree entrance.  That way the field workers
desert the tree queen and go into the new queen's box.  I left the funnel on
the entrance for only 3-4 days and the number of bees left had dwindled
drastically.  I could not see into the tree to see what was in there and
there were still occasional bees coming out of the funnel, but most of the
field bees were in the new queen's hive by then.  I assume that the tree
hive was making decisions about who was going to be volunteered to go get
water since the field workers didn't return.  There is plenty of food in a
hive, so it may take a while for the house hive to expire.  There would also
still be brood hatching and they may also find another entrance.  Some of
the older beekeepers said that it would take about a month for the queen and
company to die.  I have no evidence on which to base that time, though.  I
know that it is a great way to get a lot of workers out of the same hive to
support several queens.
 
Another note is that when the bees in the house finally die, you can let the
bees in the new hive rob the honey out of the house wall so you don't have
to tear the house apart or deal with honey mess.
 
Mine came out great.  I got two hives of workers and moved them about 10
miles away immediately after taking the brood box out of the tree and before
I opened the tree hive.  Both those hives are doing very well.  The hive in
the tree is still there and recovered nicely.
##################
From the desk of,
 
Bruce Kemp
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1-540-961-MULE(6853)