Last spring when we made our splits we did not move them from the yard they
were in. I read some place that if you put something in front of the
entrance they would re-orientate. We went out first thing in the morning
before the bees started flying made the splits and changed the entrances
with a stick across the landing board. By the time we got to the last split
the bees were flying. So when we did the split the foragers were gone.
That last nuc was the only one that did not keep it's field force. There
was undoubtedly some drifting back to the parent hive, but they maintained
adequate field bees, except for the last one.
Did I get lucky or did it really work?
Dave
South East Idaho
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