On Mon, 18 Mar 1996, Alden Leatherman wrote:
 
> Opening my only remaining hive (of two alive in the fall) this weekend, I
> found absolutely no brood or eggs but a good amount of bees.  The
> forecast is for some possible snow in the next few days here in
> central Michigan, so I am wondering what to do about requeening.
>
> 1.  Is it safe to assume the queen is gone or dead or do I need to do a
> thorough search for a possible non-functioning queen?
>
> 2. How warm should it be before I introduce the new queen?
>
> 3.  If it's too cold when she comes how long can I keep her just
> giving her water (and/or syrup...?) through her cage screen?
>
> 4.  Does it make any sense at all to wait for generally warmer weather to
> order a new queen?  No laying workers .... yet.
>
> 5.  Why and how did this happen?  Any ideas?
>
> Any other suggestions or thoughts of course would be welcome.  I just
> don't want to lose this good bunch of bees that have made it this far into
> spring.  I am leaning toward trying a New World Carniolan from California
> for this requeening.  Any reason not to?  Too far to ship?  Possible better
> acceptance of another strain
 Hi , I have a couple of  thoughts. #1 I have 25 hive at the house.
Wesrern Wash USA. I looked at my bees yesterday. 60 F. I have hives from
a ten inch cluster in one box  with a 3 inch dia.brood and larva to 3
deep boxs full of bees and brood.In the slow hive they have one deep on
top FULL of honey and did not move up into it. I think that the hive did
get some Varroa damage in the fall.
 I would lean toward the New World Carni and Sue Cobey put in a post with
the Address's of the breeders that have them in California.They build up
fast.
 This year I took 3 hives and started to feed pollen in January so I can
get some early drones. I have drones and a load of bees.
  I myself would not count her out with the weather that you still have.
One more little look before I would grab the phone for California. I
would replace her but be careful of the temperature that the new queen
has to sustain before she gets into the hive. I have done queens with ice
on the ground. I would put a couple in a pocketof my shirt under my
coveralls and go out and do a few at a time.
Rot