View Full Version : What do i do now?
J.T Bees
08-14-2008, 03:46 PM
I have a hive that i was planning to requeen today. I just moved it to its current location a couple days ago. The new queen arrived yesterday. But today, when i found and tried to grab and kill the old queen in the hive,she flew away! Is it safe to install the new queen? I don't think that the will find her way back because i just moved the hive miles from its old location. Meanwhile my new queen is just waiting to be installed. Jansten
You could introduce your new queen and slip an excluder under the bottom box to keep the old queen out in the event she makes her way back (assuming she hasn't returned already). Don't forget to remove the excluder after a couple of days.
Michael Bush
08-14-2008, 08:17 PM
There is a fair chance the queen who flew will return. Probably around 50:50 or better.
J.T Bees
08-15-2008, 12:30 AM
Well this afternoon i check in the hive again and i found her and just re queened like normal. I guess it was just a learning experience. Maybe not to try to grab the queen but rather kill her on the comb with a hive tool. Also,this queen was wild and more on the AHB side which probably are bit more apt to fly. Jantsen
tecumseh
08-15-2008, 06:20 AM
jt writes:
Also,this queen was wild and more on the AHB side which probably are bit more apt to fly.
tecumseh replies: I would suspect that your notion here is incorrect. older queens seem less inclined to fly than newer queens but that is as far as I would go with that kind of thinking....
I would almost agree whole heartly with mr bush... I would suggest (no matter what the flavor of queen) that the odds are more like 90% that the 'old' queen would have returned to her old box.
the only time I try to catch a queen is when I wish to put her in an introduction cage (for whatever reason) and I always employ the sharp edge of a hive tool when I want to eliminate a queen.