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I checked yesterday and they hadn't released her yet. I'll check today and release her myself if needed.

Yup, I dropped her in some alcohol. I didn't realize her scent would be so strong. I was...

Walt,
I tried to answer your question in post #25, but looks like I was wrong.
> The brood has the characteristics I associate with laying workers. I've never seen a queen lay like this.

I...

I'm confused if there really was a laying worker or a bad queen. Whoever it was had stopped laying the crazy pattern.
I tend to think it was a laying worker that did the crazy pattern initially and...

I bought a queen today and tore apart the hive. No uncapped brood. So I thought maybe no queen. But I got lucky and found the old queen (on the top of the box I had just checked!).
BTW, I did later...

I noticed that, but the sample size was really small. I only saw two mature drones and they were not very big....

Walt,
The brood has the characteristics I associate with laying workers. I've never seen a queen lay like this. But strange that a queen is there and she isn't laying the drones. Maybe she knows...

When I went thru the hive, I was thinking they were queenless since I didn't find brood in the lower boxes. But they didn't sound queenless.
Then I found the random pattern of drone brood (two drone...

Interesting, some people have never seen this and squarepeg had 4 out of 18.

If I put a frame of brood in (problematic cause I lost my other hive in the late fall - was pretty strong and then...

Pretty strong hive, overwintered fine.
I went thru them the other day - skipped the top boxes of honey and found the brood boxes empty. Next box up, empty. Finally top box, lots of bees, but...

I've melted wax before and never had this problem. Caccoons just clog things up, but don't change the color, IME.
I'll try again, with just pure wax.....

Thanks!

I'm melting wax from a cut-out I did and every time it turns brown. At first, I thought I got it too hot, but this last batch just melted the wax and still came out brown.
There's pollen in with the...

Marc,
I just did the same thing. I did a cut-out that was only a half mile away.
First time I left them in the vac overnight.
2nd time I did a paper combine and gave them some comb/honey to...

I don't have a shortage of colonies right now. I have all my equipment in use and 2 hives from a friend. Am in the middle of a trap-out and have someone that wants me to do a cut-out. I wanted...

I went into the 2nd hive today. There seems to be less bees than before (really hard to tell) and there's tons of queen cells. So either she swarmed (seems unlikely) or she got hurt.
Several of the...

I did my first cut-out last week. It was in a porch wall and I could see that it was two big colonies near each other and another colony at the other end of the porch. Looks like a squirrel had...

I think the wire 'hooks' would work, but only if it's some older comb. The comb I was dealing with was brand new and I doubt it would have worked.

I just saw that. I did use cotton string. Tying it first and then using a thumb tack to attach the other end worked much better than what I was trying before.
I am going to pick up some rubber bands...

I was concerned of the defensive position of the existing hive. Sound much more like if the add-ins are humble, the hive isn't defensive. Good to know. Thanks!!!

I'm working with a cut-out that has 4 separate colonies in it (and maybe more!). I'll post some pics.

The comb is pretty fresh and soft and I'm having issues putting in frames. I tried string and...

So they know they are queenless, but the existing hive will accept them OK? That's where I generally see the problems, in my limited experience.


Newspaper combine, not newspaper divide! I knew...

But what if you want to add them to a weaker hive? I have a swarm that I caught that could use more bees to help it along.
Maybe a paper divide? Or spraying them down with sugar water so the hive...

If you have bees from a trap-out (or a queenless swarm), how do you add them to an existing hive without having a battle breakout?
I got a queenless swarm (rain stopped part of the swarm from...

I found a nice sized plastic box and was just planning on using with a shop vac. Cut three strategic holes, screen the end, and be done. It's big enough to hold a pretty big cut-out.
What's the...

I use something similar - but with no elastic on the cuff, how do you keep them from going down the glove?
Most times it's not a problem, but every once in a while....

Arghh, if I could find her! I think she's still there, but I don't see her.... :(