From: "deelusbybeekeeper" <deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com>
Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 20:16:46 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Adjusting to 49ers

Hi to all on Biological Beekeeping

I asked a question:

> > Do you by any chance have a double screen
> > divider?

To which Gene Replied:

> Dee, yes I do have a double screen divider

Reply:

Gene, If the new queen comes and you have already raised a new queen in the
queenless one you have probably already added brood to, then you will
probably want to still use the queen.Here is another option besides just
replacing then a newly hatched/mated queen.

Since she will be of the same stock line as the packages you already
received and you ahve already said you have two really going strong, but
still not probably big enough to split normally, as they are new packages
building up. Take the double screen and remove the top cover on one of the
strong colonies and set in its place. Then take an empty super and shallow
small pan with water and sponge for float so bees cannot drown in it. Then
take hopefully by then, but you should have some, emerging brood frames with
sealed cells and no open brood (eggs and/or young larva), using two minimum
preferably. You might have to take one from each of yur strong hives to get
two. Place the sealed brood/emerging brood side by side in the center of the
super on top of the double screen and maybe a new frame of 4.9mm foundation
with some honey and pollen on each side of that for a total of 4 frames. Now
you will have shallow pan covered with wet sponge floating in it in the
super also. Close the entrance on the double screen to about a pencil hole
width and face the opening out the back of the top of the hive. Release the
new mated queen on the emerging brood and close up with a top cover. The
warmth from below will keep the brood in the small nuc fine and the double
screen will allow ventilation just like in the hive below. The emerging
brood and the new queen will get along fine and the mated queen will lay as
cells become available and has a new force of worker bees to work with. In
about 10 days or so you can probably open up the reduced hole for more
flight for the new bees and queen within as the workers should start qater
carrying and foraging.

Just a simple way to make up a small nuc with an extra queen you might not
want to lose as another option. Hope you can follow what I just wrote.

Dee