Installed queens
Sorry, no photos. Too windy, a little drizzle, but had to get the queens in. They were a day later arriving than we had thought, so I didn't want to wait until "perfect" weather. No such thing this spring.
Installed just fine in hive #1, left in cage between two frames. I'll check this one in two days and release her if she isn't free yet. Had possibly fatal release in the new hive. First, I moved frames from the nuc into a regular medium hive body. On the frame I thought might have some queen cells there were queen cells, so I left that frame in the nuc. We'll see if that will develop a queen. I wanted to directly release the second queen into the new hive, which I'll call #3. I pulled the plug and right away the attendant bees emerged, but the queen was reluctant to come out, or so it seemed. I lifted it up from the top of the frames, and Kathy saw her drop out. We looked but couldn't find her, and I hope she fell into the hive. I should have just pulled the plug out of the plastic container and set it down in the hive, especially with the wind blowing madly as it was. We covered the hive up after filling it with frames of nectar and a couple to be drawn out. I'll check in about 5 or 6 days and see if there is any larva or eggs. Dumb mistake.
Installed just fine in hive #1, left in cage between two frames. I'll check this one in two days and release her if she isn't free yet. Had possibly fatal release in the new hive. First, I moved frames from the nuc into a regular medium hive body. On the frame I thought might have some queen cells there were queen cells, so I left that frame in the nuc. We'll see if that will develop a queen. I wanted to directly release the second queen into the new hive, which I'll call #3. I pulled the plug and right away the attendant bees emerged, but the queen was reluctant to come out, or so it seemed. I lifted it up from the top of the frames, and Kathy saw her drop out. We looked but couldn't find her, and I hope she fell into the hive. I should have just pulled the plug out of the plastic container and set it down in the hive, especially with the wind blowing madly as it was. We covered the hive up after filling it with frames of nectar and a couple to be drawn out. I'll check in about 5 or 6 days and see if there is any larva or eggs. Dumb mistake.
I never had any experience with getting a new queen. I just had the new queen with the new hive. I've often wondered how that process goes... smoothly or not? Do you think the hive killed the new queen or do they normally accept her?
ReplyDeleteI hope they accept her, but I'll have to wait a day or so to find out. Pretty sloppy release. In retrospect, I should have put her in the cage in the hive for at least a day. I released the other queen today and she scurried right down into the frames. If the first queen dropped into the hive, I think all will be well since they've been queenless for some time now.
ReplyDeleteI hope all is well and that your new queen was accepted Jim :-)
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