bit of a panic

[tony350i]

Hi,

I rang the beekeeper that is supplying my buckfast x cecropia queens today to see if they are coming at the end of this month and he said they should be with me tomorrow, well this has put me in a Wright panic coz I am knot ready.

Two of my hives are in the process of re-queening themselves so that leaves me with one hive that I can take any brood from, if it has any,

Is one frame of brood in a nuc ok to get the queen excepted?

Does the candy end of the queen cage when in the nuc point up or down?

How long do I have to leave the nuc queen less before I add the new queen in it's cage?

The last time a tryed to requeen with a brought queen it flew off, so how long before i look to see if she has bee released.


Thank
Tony

[wayacoyote]

Tony,
No need to panic. I moisten a cotton ball with water and put it against the queen cage as a water-source until I can get them in the hive. Keep them warm, but not hot, and in the dark for calming them.

One frame of brood will work. When making up the nuc, shake in lots of bees. Some of these will be older bees who will fly back to the old hive.

Queen candy- most say point it up. I'm not sure why. I point it down after someone pointed out that some candy can get so moist that it flows out and drowns the queen. I don't want to risk that since I see no need to point up. ... Alternatively, insects Do tend to climb up, so having the exit there Might allow her to find it easier, but I've never had that to be a problem. Also, having the exit up will let you see if it is open without having to pull it out. But you'll have to pull it out to see that the queen is out anyway.
I point it down.

Typically a hive is supposed to recognize itself as queenless within 24 hours. You could wait, but many beeks do it all at one time. Saves you a trip to the yard. Saves bothering the bees. And they might start raising their own queen from the brood if they get it in their minds they don't have a queen.
I put her right in.

Anytime I'm hiving a new queen or bees in a new situation, I put a queen excluder UNDER the hive (between the broodnest with queen and the exit). Now she Can't get out. Give them a week. By then, she'll have emerged from the cage and started raising eggs. Any eggs by then will be hers. Then remove the queen "includer". ** Only do this if she's mated. If she's a virgin, Do Not do this.

Waya

[BerkeyDavid]

Hi all. The reason I was told to put the candy up is if there are attendant bees and one of them dies, they will block the exit, constantly falling down. It made sense to me so I have since always put the candy up. Especially if there are attendants.

The only other thing that I might add to Waya's comments is that if you have or can make a queen cage (forget what they are called, I have 3 of them and they work real well) that sets over the comb, you can put it over emerging brood, it really helps them accept the queen.

But bottom line, dont panic it will be fine. I never tried the queen includer.

[tecumseh]

toni350i writes:
Two of my hives are in the process of re-queening themselves so that leaves me with one hive that I can take any brood from, if it has any

tecumseh sezs:
first off toni take a few deep breaths: inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. and while you are doing this, keep telling yourself I can do this simple thing. and we (in what ever way we can) are here to help.

may I assume??? your one hive is at least in modest condition in regards to population. remember that many queen breeder (at least on this side of the pond) would have reared these same type of queens in what is essential a two frame nuc (one frame of brood and one of feed). once established a bit of feed and a frame added from time to time is all that should be reqired.

some of us differ in process although we are likely all trying to get to the same place. so quite unlike wayacoyote I simply add a few drops of water thru the screen twice a day with an eyedropper. wayacoyte points his candy down while it is my habit to install the queen cage horizontal (wedged between two frames) with the screen pointed upward. my reason for this is that when I casually pop the lid 5 days later I like to be able to peek down between the frames and check on the queen with the least disturbance of the nuc. if the queen is still in the cage a group of workers will be cluster about on the screen feeding the new queen thru the wire; if she has been released you will see almost no activity with regards to the queen cage. a bit of a warning in using my strategy: most queen breeder cover the cady plug with a bit of wax paper which can sometime fall when the candy plug is consume and block the queens exit.

wishin' you luck with your endeavor...

[tony350i]

One more thing all my nuc boxes where out as I was trying to catch any free swarms and I used a bit of lemongrass oil as a lure, these were 5 frame nuc boxes and they still smell a bit of the lemongrass, would this hamper the young bees excepting the caged queen when i make up the nucs.


thanks all for your replys

Tony

[ May 12, 2006, 12:42 AM: Message edited by: tony350i ]

[Michael Bush]

>Is one frame of brood in a nuc ok to get the queen excepted?

I'd shake some extra bees in, but yes, that's what most of my mating nucs are. One frame of brood and one frame of honey.

>Does the candy end of the queen cage when in the nuc point up or down?

I usually lay them flat with the screen down and the candy on one end. There are many opinions.

>How long do I have to leave the nuc queen less before I add the new queen in it's cage?

If it was in my backyard and I could do any amount of time, it would be overnight. That's long enough they will know they are queenless and short enough they won't start a cell. 24 hours is ok. If it's an outyard (long drive) and you're talking about a one frame nuc? I'd just wait an hour or two.

>The last time a tryed to requeen with a brought queen it flew off, so how long before i look to see if she has bee released.

Four days would be good. If she's not out, give her a spritz with a spray bottle of light syrup (1:2) so she will be less likely to fly, and then relase her. If she DOES fly, stay put with the hive open until you see her go back in, find her or ten minutes goes by, whichever comes first.

>they still smell a bit of the lemongrass, would this hamper the young bees excepting the caged queen when i make up the nucs.

It might even help. It won't hurt.

[tony350i]

When I made the nuc up I had one brood frame with bees and the seconded brood frame I shook the bees off into the nuc and it had two frames of store and it looked like I had enough bees then i left it off 6 hours, well I’ve just came back from putting the queen cage in and I am not to sure there is enough bees to keep the brood warm so I might loss some brood if it gets cold tonight.
Would it be to soon to swap positions with another hive to boost the number in the nuc, the hive I want to swap with is in the process off re queening it’s self.

Tony

[tecumseh]

as far as swapping hive and nuc positions, it would seem to me to be a question of how gently this could be done and is the new queen out of her introduction cage. the larger hazard is turning a mass of field bees onto a queen that is not established.

[tony350i]

The hive I want to swap with hasn’t got a big field force off worker bees and it was this one I wanted to swap with.

I am a bit worried that the nuc hasn’t got enough bees.

When the queen is released from her cage would it be ok to do it then.


Tony

[ May 13, 2006, 07:02 AM: Message edited by: tony350i ]