On 25 Feb 97 at 10:02, Ted Wout wrote: FW: Queen killed by Field Bee force
 
> Last year I had a hive that swarmed and then, for some reason, the new
> queen just wasn't a good layer.  The hive was despondent and was losing
> population.  I decided to requeen.  I bought a new buckfast queen from
> Weaver's in Navasota, TX, a more local and very reputable supplier.
> Before putting the wooden queen cage in the hive I released all of the
> attendants.  I found the old queen, pinched her and left her in the
> bottom of the hive.  I set the queen cage in the hive, candy end up, and
> left the hive alone for several days.  When I went back to check on her
> the queen was dead.  The bees had eaten away the candy and killed her for
> some reason.  I was out $14.  Does this just happen sometimes? Is there a
> better way?
 
Classic! Obviously the swarm queen wasn't up to snuff, so the bees were in
the process of superscedure, as you must have had two queens in that hive.
        Question? Which one did you pinch?
When a queen is not working properly it is vital that the hive  is
watched carefully to establish the problem before jumping in to requeen.
Often a superscedure queen is better than a bought queen, as all the hives
effort is going into just one cell.
        As some one else wrote, it is better to make a small nuc for queen
introduction. After waiting for her brood to start emerging, then unite
with newspaper.
 
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