Hello,
    I have used this method 1 time with success (my 2nd year) in a colony that
was built up from a recent swarm. The queen's pattern was spotty and I was
replacing her with a Carniolan from a major breeder. I could not find the swarm
queen after several attempts (due to lack of experience), and the colony was in
my backyard close to neighbors. I was attenpting to find her with the least
disturbance to the colony, for the neighbor's sake. It worked on the second
attempt in the same afternoon. I have not tried this method since then,  (I
have become rather good at spotting queens). I had to carefully sort out
adhering bees to spot her. With additional thought I feel the details may be
worked out with this method. But then again, there I go thinking.
    Mr. Gustafsson is correct though, bees don't react logically, they react
instinctively. As much as I try to reason with them, they have a great time
displaying how wrong I am sometimes. I swear I heard (the 5 lb swarm I
recaptured twice from my own primary yard Sunday) laughing with that serious
belly laugh.
The worst that can happen is .... they say "No."
Thom Bradley
Chesapeake, VA

Computer Software Solutions Ltd wrote:

>
>
> Thom Bradley suggests what appears to be an elegant method of finding the
> queen by using a new queen in a protected cage to lure the old queen on to
> the cage. It is so simple and appears so logical that I must ask - where is
> the snag?
>
> Has Thom used it himself and with what results?
>