Package and a frame of eggs

[JoeMcc]

I didn’t want to take a chance of hijacking the "Letting splits raise their own Queen in S. Michigan" thread so thought I would start another one.

I ordered a couple 4# packages that I will split into (2) 2# packages. I’m only getting one queen. Here is my question. If I pull a frame of eggs out of a different hive (shake off all bees) and place it in a hive with the package, wouldn't the package start to raise a queen also? Has anyone tried this?

BTW I was excited to see my bees here in Western WA bringing in lots of pollen. I see some nut trees (Filbert/Hazel) have pollen and maybe heather???

JoeMcc

[MountainCamp]

If you have a hive that you can pull some resources, I would do the following:

Take a frame of mostly capped brood and place it in each half of your package. This will boost the population without having requiring much in the way of resources from the new "colonies".

Take a frame that has eggs and all covering bees, make sure the queen is not present. Spray the frame with light syrup, spray the other frames, and pour in this half of the package. The young nurse bees and the bees from the package will not fight.

This will provide a little swarm control on the "established" hive by opening up the brood nest.
It will give each half of the package a boost with population.
It will allow the "queenless" half to rear a queen.

You can balance population and resources as the season progress simply by exchanging hive locations. The foragers will return to their location regardless of the actual hive there. Since they have nectar and are bringing it in, they will be allowed to pass.

[WVbeekeeper]

I would leave the packages intact so they build up faster, then split them later when they are strong enough. I would buy two queens for the splits if I didn't already have two mated and laying queens already available.

[JoeMcc]

A friend of mine said he will give me some queen cells from his hives. So if the timing is right I will use those. I will have to read up on that. I have never used a cell from another hive. What do you do... put them in your pocket and keep them warm while I drive to my apiary? Then just squish them into the side of an open brood frame?

If anyone has a link that would be great.

JoeMcc

[Troy]

Be careful squishing. That word made me shudder.

Queen Cells need to be handled very tenderly, especially in the middle of the capped period. At the beginning they are just larvae and a bit of rough handling doesn't make too much difference, and in the last day or so the queen is fully formed and can take some handling too, but in the middle they are very fragile.

[JoeMcc]

Be careful squishing. That word made me shudder.



Yeah your right... that sounds horrible.

JoeMcc

[JoeMcc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw-5Ph-SRxg&NR=1

looks simple enough....

Joe

[WVbeekeeper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw-5Ph-SRxg&NR=1

looks simple enough....

Joe

Those queen cells are from grafted larvae and appear to be are wood plugs which will hang between the frames. The queen cells your frien will give will most likely be swarm cells. I like to cut a small square of comb out of the frame and gently (not squish) place the cell into the square. The bees will attach the cell to the comb. You can also place the queen cell into a protector to hang between the top bars or to push into the face of the comb if you want.

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page34.html

[Angi_H]

You know i kinda had the same question. I am buying a 4lb package as well. What if I installed 3lbs or 2 3/4 lbs into my hive and then took the other lb or lb and 1/4 and made a nuc with a new queen. Will that work. If I order an extra queen for pick up when I pick up my packages. Or to have one arive when I am ready to install. Is that something that woud work. As the reason I was ordering a 4lb package was to try to get 1 1/2 hives out of it buy building a nuc. As I was not able to afford 2 2lb packages. Unless I can get a 3lb from Biggs Ca. for 45.00

Angi