not exactly what you are asking, but last year I put a swarm into a colony that had a capped queen cell and the swarm absconded. I thought it might work, but in hindsight it seemed like a stupid thing to do- as I had found the queen in the swarm. I guess it is possible there was a virgin already in the colony that I missed.
putting a swam in queenless hive?
I got a hive that is queenless. This morring I found a football size bee swarm can I put it in queenless hive? If so how?
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You can try but wouldn't it be easier to hive the swarm and buy a queen? You have a bit more control of the immediate future by doing it that way. I always worry about that my queenless colony isn't really queenless.
Hive the swarm, put in a frame of drawn comb from the queenless hive (no bees on the frame). Let the swarm hive queen lay eggs in it, then brush off the bees and put it back into the queenless hive for them to raise a new queen with.
Hive the swarm and get them build comb and storing resources. Then in about a week you can shake out the LW colony and place the empty boxes on the swarm you setup previously. The LW bees will find a home and it should not induce an absconding.
Yes you can do it. Do it like a newspaper combine. Gave a friend a swarm last week for his queenless hive. All worked out fine. Put a piece of newspaper over the queenless hive body. Put the swarm into a new super on top with frames. Then let them get acquainted.
BTW, his queenless hive had laying worker(s).
BTW, his queenless hive had laying worker(s).
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