I tell you, I am LOUSY at finding my queens. I got my two Carniolans and was going to install them yesterday. The night before, I decided to brush up on my queen releasing techniqe, and so I broke out my copy of The Beekeepers Handbook by Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile and read on pg. 88 that there should be NO attendants in the cage with the queen when she is released. hmmmmm
Next day, I get things prepared, and I am now faced with getting 4 or 5 attendants out of two cages each. hmmmmmmm
The queen cages had been shipped in a nice little cardboard package with screen panels in the sides, and they slid together to form a box. Very nice. :->
So I got the first cage out and tried to get the little critters to walk out the hole where I had taken the cork out. They were NOT interested in doing that. hmmmmm
So I notice that the screen on the cage is just sort of snapped in place and so I said hmmmmm.
I opened that up a little and lo and behold, somehow managed to get the attendants to leave, with her majesty trailing close behind, but I managed to get the castle door closed first. Then I proceeded to place her cage in the nuc I had made ready (and thats ANOTHER story that is waaaay too long to type !! GAWD)
So, being bouyed on by the success of my first release of attendants, whats to stop me from doing the same thing again ?? hmmmmm
AS I got the second screen open, out comes one attendant, two attendants, three, four....
AND Her Majesty !!! :-< I sat there and watched $25.00 fly off into the air. All I could was sit there and look around to make sure no one was watching and shake my head.
However........... hehe.... I noticed that in a minute or two, the attendants were buzzing around and lighting on the queen cage where the queen had been. hmmmmm
I sat thre for about 5 of the longest minutes of my life, and sure enough....... what I al least thought/hoped was her majesty started making circles over where we (the attendants and me) were sitting and waiting. Soon she dropped altitude and buzzed around me a couple of times and buzzed the cage a few times and then hovered right in front of me and took off again. She then repeated this performance and I began to think, how can I nab her with out injuring her or smashing her ?? hmmmmm
Then I remembered the little box that the cages had been shipped in. hmmmmm
I went and got the two halves and sat back down where the great queen escape had taken place, and after the next 5 longest minutes of my life, her majesty once again approached the tower and repeated her ealier flight patterns. Onlt THIS time, when she made the mistake of hovering in front of me at chest level, I simply put the two halves of the box on either side of her (smoothly and quickly) and slid them together with her majesty snuggly inside !!! Ta Da !!!!!
I still had to wait for my son to get home so he could verify that there was a green mark on her, since I am red/green color blind, and when he did, I sure breathed a huge sigh of relief and broke out in a VERY big grin !! :->
Sharkey Pruette
Queen Recovery Team Extroidinare
------------------
It's Not The Destination, It's The Journey. We Cannot Change The Wind, But We CAN Trim The Sails.
Next day, I get things prepared, and I am now faced with getting 4 or 5 attendants out of two cages each. hmmmmmmm
The queen cages had been shipped in a nice little cardboard package with screen panels in the sides, and they slid together to form a box. Very nice. :->
So I got the first cage out and tried to get the little critters to walk out the hole where I had taken the cork out. They were NOT interested in doing that. hmmmmm
So I notice that the screen on the cage is just sort of snapped in place and so I said hmmmmm.
I opened that up a little and lo and behold, somehow managed to get the attendants to leave, with her majesty trailing close behind, but I managed to get the castle door closed first. Then I proceeded to place her cage in the nuc I had made ready (and thats ANOTHER story that is waaaay too long to type !! GAWD)
So, being bouyed on by the success of my first release of attendants, whats to stop me from doing the same thing again ?? hmmmmm
AS I got the second screen open, out comes one attendant, two attendants, three, four....
AND Her Majesty !!! :-< I sat there and watched $25.00 fly off into the air. All I could was sit there and look around to make sure no one was watching and shake my head.
However........... hehe.... I noticed that in a minute or two, the attendants were buzzing around and lighting on the queen cage where the queen had been. hmmmmm
I sat thre for about 5 of the longest minutes of my life, and sure enough....... what I al least thought/hoped was her majesty started making circles over where we (the attendants and me) were sitting and waiting. Soon she dropped altitude and buzzed around me a couple of times and buzzed the cage a few times and then hovered right in front of me and took off again. She then repeated this performance and I began to think, how can I nab her with out injuring her or smashing her ?? hmmmmm
Then I remembered the little box that the cages had been shipped in. hmmmmm
I went and got the two halves and sat back down where the great queen escape had taken place, and after the next 5 longest minutes of my life, her majesty once again approached the tower and repeated her ealier flight patterns. Onlt THIS time, when she made the mistake of hovering in front of me at chest level, I simply put the two halves of the box on either side of her (smoothly and quickly) and slid them together with her majesty snuggly inside !!! Ta Da !!!!!
I still had to wait for my son to get home so he could verify that there was a green mark on her, since I am red/green color blind, and when he did, I sure breathed a huge sigh of relief and broke out in a VERY big grin !! :->
Sharkey Pruette
Queen Recovery Team Extroidinare
------------------
It's Not The Destination, It's The Journey. We Cannot Change The Wind, But We CAN Trim The Sails.