In a message dated 96-05-16 00:56:28 EDT, [log in to unmask]
(Roy Nettlebeck) writes:
 
>Wax will soak up
>all kinds of pheromones and anything else that the bees bring back to the
>hive. That queen knew her hive and there was no hesitation on her part.
>The gaurds let her in with no problem.
 
    I'm skeptical.  A newly hatched virgin can run into any hive with little
challenge, as her own odor is not yet very developed.  Each day older makes
acceptance more difficult.  I often catch virgins to use for nucs, but try to
use them the same day.  If not, I put them in a regular queen cage with a
small candy plug, as they might get killed.
 
   Queens are "jumpy" in the spring, especially if the hive is preparing to
swarm.  The mated queen that flew from a frame will most likely return in a
few minutes, as the workers did not follow.  But I think the orientation to
the location is the main mechanism.  Swarmy bees will follow any queen, so
odor is definitely a strong mechanism with them.  (Two or three swarms will
sometimes merge, and queens will not fight.  I saw one humungous swarm
onetime, in which two of us counted three mated queens and more than a dozen
virgins, as they marched into a hive.)
 
   But the queen, if she returned and another hive had been placed on the
same location would probably enter and be balled.
 
   When I lose a queen (in the air, or I simply can't find her), I just mark
that hive, and try to check it again in a few days.  If there are eggs, fine.
 If not they can be given a new queen, a  queen cell, or a frame with eggs on
it, according to what I have.
 
[log in to unmask]    Dave and Janice Green,  PO Box 1200,  Hemingway,  SC
29554
 
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