[southeastflorida]

Nice size swarm landed on my empty hive equipment outside.
These are not too gentle, I would rather just introduce a breeder queen, than even look for, or manipulate the hive too much.
I take vague percentages here, for advice.

Maybe it is time to get a veil.

 

[beekeeper1756]

If you want to requeen this swarm you'll need at least a veil. I say that based upon your comments about the veil.

Find the queen, pinch her and allow the bees to find her so they will know she has died. Replace with a new queen of your choosing and rotect the new queen in a cage for 3-5 days. Pull all the new queen cells for at least a week. That way, they can't make new queen cells with eggs based on the old queen's genetics.

Once you establish the new queen, the bees may go ahead and make queen cells with the new queens eggs.

It's an experiment. Good luck. Give it a try if you would like.

 

[rkr]

Edit: Beekeeper1756 beat me by a nose in the reply, similar concept.

Your post is vague about what method you plan to use to introduce this new queen. Since no one else has waded in, I'll tell you what I might do if I were in your shoes.

I would not waste a queen trying to introduce her into a queenright colony. The workers will see the queen as an intruder as long as their queen is alive and laying. This is with all honey bees not just possible africanized bees. If you don't pinch the laying queen, knock down any and all emergence cells that appear for 8 days and intro a new queen as per normal procedure I'd say your chances are 0 or less.

You could:

• split the colony into 2-4 hives/ nucs.
• If possible leave hive in the original location queenless so any returning workers come to a queenless hive. (Of course if you see her during the splits, pinch her head off!!!)
• Knock down all the queen cells in the queenless splits for 8 days.
• Find and pinch the old queen after 4 days (She will be in the one with eggs in it) and leave them queenless for a few days,
• knock down all the emergence queen cells for 8 days (we do not want one of these to slip by and have the daughter of this problem queen heading the hive).
• Intro the queen into one of the splits after 24-48 hours of queenlessness and then (newspaper) combine the rest when she starts to lay.

This will give you a better chance.
This would give you less bees to deal with in each Hive and in the end you would have on complete hive. Good luck!!

Yes, it is time to get a veil w/ zipper jacket, gloves ,a good smoker, and some duct tape for your ankles, wrists and any holes around your veil. This project will be messy and once it is started you must be prepared to finish it!! You obviously live in AHB country and it would be remiss not to have this gear available and ready, to take care of problems when they arise.


Anyone else have a suggestion?

RKR

 

[fish_stix]

First of all, how nasty are they? I'm north of you in Palm Bay and we've found that the so-called AHB problem is a lot of smoke and little fire. We have them, but we're still alive and moving on 2 legs! Get a veil and smoker, kill the old queen and requeen the hive. If they're too mean to work, then try a contractor size garbage bag over the hive, sealed tightly. In about 4-8 hours they'll be the most docile bees you've ever seen!

 

[rkr]

If they're too mean to work, then try a contractor size garbage bag over the hive, sealed tightly. In about 4-8 hours they'll be the most docile bees you've ever seen!

Will they be alive? I have never heard that one before. :scratch:
What does it do if not kill them? :scratch:
You've peaked my curiosity!!!

RKR

 

[jrbbees]

IF THEY ARE TRULY AFRICANIZED.....

Consider distroying the hive or.....

kill the queen, all queen cells for the next week, And all the drones who also carry the genes before they can breed with any virgins you might have who are taking mating flights.

 

[sqkcrk]

I'm sure Jerry Hayes know how to handle these babys for you. He'll send someone out to check them. And if they are AHB they will be destroyed. Get them checked out if you are at all unsure and concerned.

You can't just stick a new queen and expect that the two queens will get together and fight. The workers will kill the new queen before that ever happens. If you are going to attempt requeening do as others here have advised.

 

[blueline]

VERY politely said SQKCRK, nice job.

Blueline

 

[sqkcrk]

Thanks blue. Now back in your cruiser and get those tickets passed out.

Do you guys use radios anymore? Or cell phones?

10-4

 

[mike haney]

if its not quite clear to the OP the reason for multiple splits till you find the queen is that will take most of the fight out of them. good luck,mike

 

[southeastflorida]

All good advice, thanks, will post a picture soon.
In two days they drew out 3 frames with wax cells.
Pronto colony, has different roar, kind of like the
Vuvuzela: SA football's trumpet.

 

[fish_stix]

rkr; yes it does kill those poor, unsuspecting little honeybees. You get rid of an AHB hive and can still reuse the equipment, unlike the gasoline treatment method. However, after working an AHB hive you may find the gas more to your liking!

 

[brac]

Has anybody tried sending a virgin queen into a hive like that? Would she carry out the hit?

 

[Tomas]

In two days they drew out 3 frames with wax cells.
Pronto colony, has different roar, kind of like the
Vuvuzela: SA football's trumpet.

Does that different roar mean they have now settled down some? Or have they stayed nasty?

Just because they are ornery doesn’t automatically mean they are Africanized. It could be that the swarm was hanging out somewhere for several days until they found your equipment. Supposedly several days outside can make even European swarms a bit angry

Most of the Africanized swarms that arrive at my trap hives or the ones that I shake out of a tree are usually pretty docile in the beginning. I usually catch a couple every year in trap hives that I hang right behind my house. I´ll go out there in nothing but shorts and flip-flops and watch them move into the box. They don’t even pay attention to me. (Once they get several combs of brood they start to act a bit more nasty.)

Play it by ear a bit and see if they settle down once they get themselves organized in the box and start bringing in fresh nectar.

----------
Tom

 

[southeastflorida]

Some good points, Tomas.
Too early to tell.
Roar meaning volume and pitch.
The South Florida bee removal guys I've talked to
"estimate" the swarms at 40% AHB.

 

[pom51]

this is not a reply it is more of a question to the person with the trash bag. would like to here more about what it does to the bees and what is it used for

 

[sqkcrk]

Seriously? You don't know or can't imagine what closing a colony of bees up in a plastic bag would do to them? I didn't see any smily faces, so I guess you are being serious.

It kills them. They over heat from confinement in an air deprived environment. He was being quit( (pronounced "kee you t", that doesn't look right, gotta get spell check) and in a round about way saying, "Kill those bees. You don't want them around."

 

[fish_stix]

pom51; sqkcrk is right. If the hive is too hot to work with for requeening then the best option is to kill them. Remember, this is an AHB area. Thankfully, most of the swarms we catch are workable, but I will not tolerate bees that are a nightmare to work with. It's too easy to just make a split for increase.

 

[peacekeeperapiaries]

Has anybody tried sending a virgin queen into a hive like that? Would she carry out the hit?

To answer your question MAYBE. If the hive really likes their queen the virgin will most likely not succeed, we usually re-queen by placing cells in queenright colonies and let the virgins "make the hit", but its not 100 % lately been more like 60-70% success with this method. Best to suit up, put on your game face, find the queen and send her to bee heaven.