All our queens are clipped (and marked).

 

The weather sometimes prevents 9 day inspections (especially this year), so
we sometimes find sealed queen cells and a colony that has tried to swarm.

 

There are then three possible scenarios:

1 The queen is still in the hive, presumably having been out and then walked
back in as the swarm returns.

2 The queen has been lost somewhere out in the grass (we occasionally find
them if the colony has only very recently tried to swarm).

3 The queen crawls back under the hive with a clump of bees.  We have fully
open mesh floors raised on 2½” rails front and back and if left they will
set up a small colony hanging from the mesh.  The colony above will be
broodless after the brood all hatches, but the bees seem happy as they are
presumably getting queen pheromone by food exchange through the mesh.

 

Question:

Are clipped queens sometimes prevented from re-entering the hive by the
workers after a swarming attempt, or is it just chance that queens set up
home under the mesh floor?  (With the rails front and back, she has to go to
the side of the hive to gain access to that area - the natural route for her
would be back up the rail and into the entrance).

 

Of course, if the queen goes under the floor rather than off into the grass
that is a great advantage as we can then do an artificial swarm.  If we are
unable to find the queen in a colony with sealed queen cells then we now
always check under the floor.

 

Best wishes

 

Peter 

52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

 


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