Queen Tracking

[dgoodman]

Hello All,

Assuming my full bee suit arrives this afternoon, I'm going deep into one of my three hives tomorrow to get rid of a queen that is in desperate need of an exorcism. She's been producing some absolutely devilish daughters. She must go!

So, the hive in question is packed full of bees. I'm a bit concerned about my ability to find her with all of the chaos that is sure to ensue once I pull the lid off.

Any advice on finding the queen quickly? Any tricks?

Thanks in advance.

DG

[power napper]

By devilish daughters do you mean the bees are nasty? Have the bees always been nasty in that hive or is this a new occurrence? Is there a chance that the hive in question is being harrassed by other critters such as skunks etc.?
The queen most likely will be on the frames of eggs and larva. Hope this helps.

[Dee]

when im looking for the queen i find comb that has newly laid eggs in it, she's almost always on that frame or near by
another thing ive noticed, which ever frame she is on it seems as though all those bees are more calm then the rest of them on different frames. (maybe im just crazy?? lol)
good luck!

[King bee apiary]

Here's something you could try,(I have not done this though).Take two hive bodies and place a queen excluder between them,then shake all the bees from the hive into these.All workers should pass through and you are left with drones and queen.
As good as this sounds I'm sure if you have a hot hive that it will get pretty nasty shaken all those bees through there.
Just a thought

[iddee]

You don't say how many stories the hive is. If it is 3 or more, I would put excluders between each box and wait another week. The one she is in will be the only one to have eggs. If there is only one with brood, I would look over the frames and quickly pull the 3 with the most bees covering them and place them in an empty box. 90% chance she is on one of those 3.

[dgoodman]

Hello All,

Thanks for the tips.

Power Napper, I'm pretty sure it's a genetic thing. Bought 3 packages at the same time. All hives are next to each other. This one is full of angry bees (offspring), while the others are mellow.

DG

[Tom Chaudoir]

I had to replace a sterile queen, and had a heck of a time finding her. I did find the frame she was on because of the mob around her, but couldn't pick her out.

It came to me that she had never been on an orientation flight since she'd come with a package. I walked a hundred feet and leaned the frame against a tree. They soon formed a little swarm on the tree. After a couple of hours enough had flown away that she could be picked out.

The frame just had a starter strip that they were starting to draw, so I didn't lose any brood.

[AstroBee]

The place where all dreams come true:

http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm

[FordGuy]

looking for a queen starts when you pop the lid. look at all the frames. there should be a more numerous cluster of bees in the general vicinity of the queen. if you find a frame with new eggs, look closely for her there.