> In South Africa , we call it the 40 day method , 42 days is the 
> longest its taken me for a queen to exit / 14 days the quickest .

> Alastair Botes Cape Town .


This email really illustrates the difference in our "Holstein" 
bees and the S. African stock.
   - John Edwards

-----Scot's Reply----

No it does. If you place a hive literally sealed over the entrance, then the
queen doesn't have "light" to avoid, the entrance is no much further than it
was and there is not reason for the queen to not enter the NUC since it is
now part of her nest. I have done this in the past also with success more
than a few times when I did swarm/colony removals quite frequently. If there
was no urgency to get the bees the "heck" out of there, then this is exactly
how I did it, with a makeshift hive body built to fit against the opening,
and I used that blue picture gunk that you use to paste poster to a wall for
sealant. Worked wonders. The queen would move in (and just as likely move
back again) because the trap literally becomes part of the colony in the
wall. But if I came and she was in the hive body, I could pull it away from
the wall or tree or whatever, and move the combs into a regular hive body.
Put the hive back in place nearly the same, except now leave space for bees
to get in behind the hive to the old hive. The bees will quickly rob it out
and you may need to come and harvest some honey so they can keep robbing it
out. Then when but on a couple of bees go in or out in a minute's time, you
can seal it up, preferably with wall insulation foam to fill the space up.

It doesn't require frequent visits either because there is no cone trap to
check and unclog perhaps...just come back when is convenient and see if she
is in there, if not put it back come back when is next convenient.

Scot McPherson
McPherson Family Farms
Davenport, IA

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