Well, some time back, there was talk of finding queens by taking a
brood frame for one hive and placing it in another.
 
The theory was that the queen would smell the other queen and run to
that frame, to be found there when it was next removed minutes later.
 
We decided to test that hypothesis after splitting 22 hives by
removing the lower brood chamber (BC) and setting it aside on a
floor plus an emptylower  BC at the end of the main flow.  The hives'
entrances were reduced, and the hives left several days.
 
On returning, one centre brood frame was pulled from each hive and
transferred to the gap in the centre of the BC in the previous hive.
 In the process, 2 queens were spotted just in passing, and those
hives were removed from the test.
 
Of the remaining 20 splits, half had queens, as it ultimately turned
out; half didn't.  However _in no case_ was the queen found on the
newly introduced frame,  after 5 minutes, after 10 minutes, or even
after 20 minutes .
 
Each queeen's presence or absence had to be detected by checking for
eggs.  (We had marked the hive/split pairs, so only the splits had to
be checked. The principal object was to requeen each hive or
corresponding split) by finding which had the queen.
 
So, we were unable to make this idea work for us.  Has anyone
actually had it work?
 
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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