Hello,
We had bear (actually 3 - mama and two cubs) invasion 10 days ago. One of the hives lost all of the brood and a lot of bees (it was a weak hive to begin with), and as of today's inspection it's queenless... There were couple of the queen cells on newly made comb (they are top bar hives).
How can I save them?
1. get a queen as soon as possible?
2. try to get brood and a queen? (wasn't able to locate beekeeper willing to share brood so far)
3. try to get just brood?
4. try to introduce them into another hive? - what are the chances they will get accepted?
I am feeding them honey but they didn't seem to eat much of it (too few of them? or enough food outside?)
Thank you in advance,
Yulia in VT
We had bear (actually 3 - mama and two cubs) invasion 10 days ago. One of the hives lost all of the brood and a lot of bees (it was a weak hive to begin with), and as of today's inspection it's queenless... There were couple of the queen cells on newly made comb (they are top bar hives).
How can I save them?
1. get a queen as soon as possible?
2. try to get brood and a queen? (wasn't able to locate beekeeper willing to share brood so far)
3. try to get just brood?
4. try to introduce them into another hive? - what are the chances they will get accepted?
I am feeding them honey but they didn't seem to eat much of it (too few of them? or enough food outside?)
Thank you in advance,
Yulia in VT