Greetings all,
     All beekeepers know that bees use a variety of things to communicate
with one another.  Probably the most important are pheromones.  The question
I have is, are these pheromones passed by contact, or circulated through the
hive?  Specifically the queen pheromones.  The reason I ask is that I have
had a mean hive that has been next to impossible to requeen.  Every method
that I have tried has failed. A local master beekeeper suggested starting
her in a nuc above the old hive, with a double screen and cutting out queen
cells below.  I did this 3 weeks ago, and she was accepted above and took
off well.  He told me that I could now remove the screen, and unite the two.
I did that today, and sprayed down all the bees with sugar water.  There
seemed to be a lot of fighting going on though, and now, I am concerned
about the queen.  Will the bees below accept the queen?  The old hive below
has been queenless since April 5.  I searched the bees below, and found no
queen or eggs.  Thanks all!

Scott Moser

" I believe that beekeeping mirrors life.  One must endure a few stings to
reach the final sweet reward."  S. Moser