My new package has left the hive!!

1315 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Oyster, May 10, 2005

spencer

Discussion Starter · May 10, 2005

Newbee here. Got two 3lb. packages on Saturday and installed them without a hitch into 2 new hives at my dads which is an hour away from me. My dad had bees for about 10 years but hasn't had them in the last 15 yrs. Anyway on Sunday he called me and said 1 of the packages had left the hive and was on a tree about 5 ft from it. He put them back in and told me they might do the same thing again because we installed on all new equipment so it didn't have that "bee" smell on anything. Well he called last night and said they were gone and he looked all over and couldn't find them. Needless to say this hasn't made me too happy. He told me the other hive looks like everything is going good. He said bees are bringing back pollen so that means the queen is out and laying eggs. He also said he thinks he should of taken the frame that has the eggs started on it and put it into the other hive that flew away and that might of kept them there. Oh well, live and learn.

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Konrad

· #2 · May 10, 2005

That's very unfortunately!
I'm also new and installed 2 packages on brand new equipment, all plastic
Pierco foundation, sprayed with sugar syrup, all fine.....did you use plastic also?
Konrad

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spencer

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 10, 2005

No, I tried foundationless with starter strips. I'm very excited to see what the other hive has done so far.

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Michael Bush

· #4 · May 10, 2005

I've had them do that once and another try to do it once. A little lemongrass essential oil on the top bars (three or four drops) helps a lot if you don't have that "lived in" smell in the equipment.

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spencer

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 10, 2005

Thanks, I'll have to remember that for next time.

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Yuleluder

· #6 · May 10, 2005

I installed two packages in early April and one absconded on me also. I was using all new equipment with plastic foundation. Came home one day from work and one of the hives had no activity. When I looked inside there was no bees. I looked around in the trees, but couldn't find them. Boy, does it make you mad when you know your fifty bucks is hanging in someone else's tree!

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Oyster

· #7 · May 10, 2005

On your next try, put a queen excluder on top of the bottom board to prevent the queen from leaving. Hopefully, after a few days, the bees will settle down and accept their new home. Bees returning with pollen would be a good sign that all is well, and the queen "includer" could then be removed.

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