>having given this matter some thought, I think the way I would choose >would be this: > >Take a large cardboard box and shake all the bees into it, spraying them >lightly with sugar syrup and shaking the box lightly from time to time. > >Then add the queen - direct release into the box - once the bees are >demoralised and not flying or running. > >Then I would dump them immediately in front of the hive and let them run >in with the queen > >This is assuming that I didn't have another hive to split and add the old >bees from the drone layer to (after the queen is established in a split) >in order to arrive to arrive at two colonies. > >Allen > >W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper VE6CFK >Rural Route One Swalwell Alberta Canada T0M 1Y0 >Email: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] >Futures, Art & Honey:http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka It is obvious this hasn't been tried, and I am really curious if it would work. I have done the other approach, taking the whole hive a few yards away, getting all the bees out, putting the supers back, and letting the bees fly back to discover a new queen in a cage that they quickly release. It has worked every time, strongly recommend it, even if its a bit more work and agony. bill fernihough HONEY i s sweeter then wine.