Queen Removal Aftermath

[dgoodman]

Hello All,

So, As you might already know, I have/had a hive that had a bad queen, producing "badder" bees.

Yesterday, I went looking for her, but couldn't find her, so I split the hive.

Today I went back to the hive that appeared to have a good amount of "normal" activity. I figured the queen must be in there, as there was less distruption to the hive if she was still there.

Well, I found her and removed her. Sad, but I'm looking forward to rearing a new queen from one of my more pleasant and productive hives.

For the remainder of the day, the bees have been "bearding" on the front of the hive. I suppose a couple thousand. Is this typical of a hive that has lost its queen?

None of the other hives are doing this, so I don't attribute it to temperature.

Thanks.

DG

[Michael Bush]

I haven't seen that. But they do put up a bit of a roar fanning to try to guide their lost queen home. Maybe that's what the beard is doing.

[dgoodman]

Michael,

To add to he peculiarity of this hive/colony. Most of the bees that were bearding spent the entire night on the outside of the hive. I checked at 5AM and they were there. I returned home at 6:30AM, most had entered the hive.

What would their mother say (actually, "have said", in this case).

DG

[ June 26, 2006, 05:37 PM: Message edited by: dgoodman ]