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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 21 Jun 1999 10:12:17 EDT
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In a message dated 6/21/99 9:51:59 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> A trick I learned at a local bee workshop for finding a queen
>  in a situation where she will be captured and killed,
>  as in requeening is this:
>
>  Place a queen excluder on top of a brood chamber, with other supers
>  in place on top of this, smoke the bees heavily in the entrance.
>
>  The bees will escape the smoke by moving up to the supers.
>  The queen will not be able to pass through the excluder and
>  will be seen on the bottom side of it. Simply pick her off
>  the excluder with your fingers.


     Can't say I'd NEVER do this, but I sure can't recommend it as a routine
method. Do you realize how much stress this causes the bees?   Bet they won't
do any useful work for a week afterward. And some will actually be killed by
this kind of smoking, especially brood.

    Queens aren't THAT hard to find. If you can't find her one time, close it
up, and try later.

    The saddest thing is when you spend ten minutes looking over every frame,
for what is obviously a nice queen, then spot a clump of bees on the bottom
board, and realize that you rolled her when you pulled the first frame.

[log in to unmask]     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
The Pollination Home Page:    http://www.pollinator.com

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm

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