Bee-listers:
 
I lost one of my nice queens to what should have been an easy transition.
 
Let me explain....
 
Spring time in Santa Barbara, CA has come early and my 4 hives ( 2 brood
chamber set up) are already busting at the seams.  So I decided to split
two of them.
 
I switched hives..... taking the old hive to a new location in the yard,
and replaced this strong hive with a 4 frame nuc and laying queen. All the
field bees would have to get used to this new queen.  To make a gradual
transition I boxed her up in one of the two part cardboard intro setups.
That way they would have to chew through the cardboard and release her.
Hopefully getting making the transition.
 
Went back two days later.. and she was dead in the box.  In retrospect I
should have put her in one of the wooden, screen queen shipping cages and
left her in for longer (3 days), then manually released her.
 
Any other ideas for making a transition when dividing hives in swarm
prevention and switching them to balance out the population?
 
Paul Cronshaw DC
Cyberchiro
Hobby Beekeeper, Santa Barbara  CA.