Hello all.
     Late last week, when I was into my hives, I notice queen cells.
     Not a good thing for me, as I did not want splits OR swarms.
     However, at that time, I didn't have the equipment I needed
     with me to do much more than cut the cells I could find and
     button 'er up again.
 
     Early this week, on Monday, a bright, clear day, with the
     temperatures in the mid to high 60s (Dayton, Ohio, USA{39.9N})
     I went into the hive to split it cull some of the brood and
     place it in another hive and super the hive with sections.
 
     All went well, up to a point.
 
     I found the queen and ensured that she was settled into the
     hive (like a klutz I did not bring my push in cage with me) and
     began to remove, shake and relocate frames of brood, replacing
     them with open and empty drawn comb.  I got the hive body back
     together again and had picked up the sections to place them on
     top of the now single story hive, when I saw the queen walking
     around on top of the frames.  I stopped and waited, figuring
     that she would soon go back down into the hive, for I did not
     want to run the risk  of crushing her.  Well, she did not run
     down.  She took off  and flew.  I had my hands full and
     couldn't try to catch her.  I tracked her for several seconds
     then she blended into the rest of the hustle and bustle of
     bees.
 
     After a moment of thought, I went ahead and placed the
     sections, then took some of the remaining brood frames and
     shook bees onto the front porch of the hive.  They immediately
     exposed their Nassonov (SP?) gland and began to fan.  Flying
     bees began to cluster on the  front of the hive.
 
     I hope that the queen will follow the scent into the hive and
     take up where she left off.  If not I can place a split with a
     laying queen on it and thus requeen the hive.
 
     How have you all dealt with this problem?  Will she come back
     home or do I need to break off the split which was targeted to
     become part of a two queen system, and place it on the hive?
 
     Any input, experts?
 
     (I am a hobbyist with 4 years experience, but I havn't lost a
     queen yet ... til now, darnit.)
 
     Mark Egloff
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