Hello all.
Late last week, when I was into my hives, I notice queen cells.
Not a good thing for me, as I did not want splits OR swarms.
However, at that time, I didn't have the equipment I needed
with me to do much more than cut the cells I could find and
button 'er up again.
Early this week, on Monday, a bright, clear day, with the
temperatures in the mid to high 60s (Dayton, Ohio, USA{39.9N})
I went into the hive to split it cull some of the brood and
place it in another hive and super the hive with sections.
All went well, up to a point.
I found the queen and ensured that she was settled into the
hive (like a klutz I did not bring my push in cage with me) and
began to remove, shake and relocate frames of brood, replacing
them with open and empty drawn comb. I got the hive body back
together again and had picked up the sections to place them on
top of the now single story hive, when I saw the queen walking
around on top of the frames. I stopped and waited, figuring
that she would soon go back down into the hive, for I did not
want to run the risk of crushing her. Well, she did not run
down. She took off and flew. I had my hands full and
couldn't try to catch her. I tracked her for several seconds
then she blended into the rest of the hustle and bustle of
bees.
After a moment of thought, I went ahead and placed the
sections, then took some of the remaining brood frames and
shook bees onto the front porch of the hive. They immediately
exposed their Nassonov (SP?) gland and began to fan. Flying
bees began to cluster on the front of the hive.
I hope that the queen will follow the scent into the hive and
take up where she left off. If not I can place a split with a
laying queen on it and thus requeen the hive.
How have you all dealt with this problem? Will she come back
home or do I need to break off the split which was targeted to
become part of a two queen system, and place it on the hive?
Any input, experts?
(I am a hobbyist with 4 years experience, but I havn't lost a
queen yet ... til now, darnit.)
Mark Egloff
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