[c10250]

My Buddy purchased a package to replace a hive that died this winter. He never installed a package before, so I let him watch me install one before sending him on his way. He was going to install the package in his old hive.

A couple of days later, he called me and told me that his queen died in the cage prior to being released. Whoa! What the heck. I asked him to bring her over and let me see. . . . Guess what . . . he pushed the cage into a frame that must have had some honey stored on it. . . . the queen was coated with honey and died.

Just when you think you've seen it all . . . yet another way to screw up and kill a hive.

 

[phersbees]

get another queen. not the end of the world..

 

[biggraham610]

He killed a queen, not a hive, I rolled a great queen once, thats when I quit being so nosy in the hives, a few days later had one of her mated sisters taking over, never skipped a beat.

 

[beepro]

I'd killed so many great queens over the years that I lost track already. Sometimes I
wonder do we kill more bees than they die in their natural environment.
It is all part of the education process so train him well the next time around.

 

[c10250]

He purchased two packages. All the bees left when the queen died and went into the hive that was queenright.

 

[phersbees]

He purchased two packages. All the bees left when the queen died and went into the hive that was queenright.

still not a not a bad deal. Hive will bulid up super fast, and if it strong enough split it. or leave it and might even get to pull honey

 

[beepro]

In that case it is not bad at all. At least the 2nd hive has a nice boost of field bees.
Need to watch out for queen cells and possible swarming when they are too crowded now.
Mine made 3 qcs when I forgot to put the super on and open up more space for them. Good
thing I checked today to make some splits to prevent swarming in another 2 days or so. Tell
your friend to check for swarm cells later on also.