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Date: | Wed, 19 Apr 2000 00:52:14 -0400 |
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I have a hive with laying worker(s). Without realizing what I had I
requeened, thinking I had a queen that was only producing drones. The girls
killed the queen with her attendants, they never even got out of the queen
cage. I requeened again, this time making sure to leave the queen cage
where the bees were clustering, and where they would have access to the
screened part of the queen cage to pick up her scent. I fear she is gone
too - haven't checked because the weather has been too cold and wet (Central
NJ).
Having read up a little more about this, I think I missed the fact that
the drone brood was widely scattered, not neatly clustered as would be the
case with an unfertile queen.
I'm planning to check the hive on the next warmish day, and if the queen
is indeed history, remove the boxes about 30 yards away from the original
site. Empty the frames from the first brood super, brush out any bees in
there, and return the empty box to the original hive location. Then,
rebuild the box first using a four frame nuc with a new queen that was
started 2 weeks ago and has capped brood, making up the balance of the hive
with the original frames once they have been brushed free of bees.
My reading tells me that any laying workers are unlikely to make it back
to the hive, and the queenright population of the nuc will dominate the
returning foragers, and things will proceed normally. I'm hoping the bees
are on the same page I am here.
In my reading I didn't find anything about the addition of frames with
fresh eggs - would this hive raise their own queen? /C.Crowell
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