>
>     Yestersday (Sunday) afternnon, I was at the hive, watching the bees
>     come and go (as you do) in what seemed like the first decent day for
>     ages. I looked at the ground and noticed my clipped queen wandering
>     around next to my foot. I got her to crawl onto a leaf and put her
>     back into the hive through the entrance, but I am perplexed and
>     worried about how she got out of the hive. Does anyone have any
>     thoughts?
>
>     My guesses so far have been
>
>     1. I clumsily knocked her off a frame when I opened the hive a few
>     days ago and she's been on the ground ever since
 
Possible.
>
>     2. She went for a wander and just fell off the alighting board
 
Unlikely that she left the hive without a definite destination in mind.
>
>     3. The bees tried to swarm (or even did swarm) and, because she's
>     clipped, she just fell off the alighting board
 
Very likely.
>
>     4. The other bees pushed her out of the hive for some reason
 
Unlikely.  Hives make collective decisions.  If the queen was not performing
they would make queen cells rather than evicting the only one they have.
>
>     A beekeeping friend has suggested I wait a couple of days then check
>     the hive throroughly, making sure she is there and laying, and that
>     there are no queen cells.
 
Very good advice.
 
>     I also had a subsidiary question: when I looked at the hive on friday,
>     there were a few bumblelbees hanging around underneath it and,
>     seemingly, harassing those honey bees which were on their own (below
>     the level of the hive entrance), but the bumblebees did not seem to be
>     trying to get into the hive - any thoughts?
 
I would suspect attempted robbing by the bumble bees.
>
Betty McAdam
HOG BAY APIARY
Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island
j.h. & e. mcadam<[log in to unmask]
http://kigateway.eastend.com.au/hogbay/hogbay1.htm