At 08:21 PM 5/15/96 +0000, you wrote:
> 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
> [log in to unmask]
>
I have had this happen to me on two occasions. The first time I didn't know
that the queen had gotten out of the hive. It was a hive that I had
recently started from a package. I had been working the bees and couldn't
find the queen so I buttoned up and went to the next hive. I went back to
that hive about an hour later and saw the queen flying around the hive. I
took the top off the hive and she landed on the back of the hive and walked
in and was welcomed.
The second time it happened I had found the queen and was looking at her on
the comb. She took wing and like you, I watched her fly into the wild blue
yonder. Next day I checked the hive and she was back laying eggs just like
normal.
Both these queens were Yugo and both were in very young colonies. I have
never had this happen with Italian bees.
Frank Humphrey
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