[Schuman]

So. I made a rookie mistake. Was going through my hive and somehow managed to find the queen which i never see. I had a medicine bottle in my truck so i set her in it and ran to thw house for a paint marker and returned with it. I got her out of the bottle and set her on an empty frame on my tailgate about 25ft from the hive. (1st mistake should have used a brood frame as i dont have a proper cage for marking and did it over her hive) well as soon as she hit the frame she flew off in the opposite direction of her hive. Her hive was sitting open at the time. Whats the probability she will return to her hive? There was fresh egga so they can make a new queen but she was a good 1.

 

[Steve in PA]

She will most likely be back. It's probably a bit late, but stay away from the hive. You don't want to accidentally step on her.

Wait until Sunday. If she came back you shouldn't notice anything. If she didn't, they will be making a new queen. The nice thing about this time of year is that the bees will fix most of our mistakes.

 

[Schuman]

I sure hope so. I looked on the ground pretty closely hopeing to find her. I put the hive back togethor as carefully as I could and left. I was very excited to find her because i wanted to ise an excluder and trap her into 1 of the 2 boxes because the bottom box got some crazy comb going and ive been reluctant to cut it apart with her possibly in it.

 

[Fivej]

Bummer. Hopefully she will make it back. If that ever happens again, she may actually orient on you so you should stay put for 15 min (so I have heard) and she might return to that very spot. Then again, maybe she is still oriented to the hive and went right in. J

 

[jonsl]

Made a somewhat similar mistake a couple of years ago. I had put a frame next to the hive to make room during an inspection. I apparently hadn't noticed that the queen was on the frame. After I closed the hive up I noticed the queen on the side of the hive. I opened the top back up and picked her up on my hive tool with a couple of attendants. Just as I shook the tool to shake her into the hive a small gust of wind hit and I saw one bee fly off into the distance. It was the queen. She never did come back (maybe she was eaten). I would have been better off leaving her on the side of the box and let the attendants get her back inside. Live and learn.

 

[BFD45]

Last week I found a new queen in a feral hive we "rescued" from a large oak that blew down in a wind storm. She was moving like a freight train across the frame and I was able to catch her in a queen catcher. I let her out onto a frame and she flew off......I lost sight of her as she flew around the front of the hive. I was hoping she would return but I don't think she did.. I couldn't find her this week...and I have no eggs, but I found 3 new capped queen cells. I'm hoping for the best...:thumbsup:

 

[Schuman]

I am hopeing to get into the hive today or tomorrow and look for her or queencells. Weather has been cool, windy, and rainy so have not had a chance to search yet.

 

[Michael Bush]

For next time: http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenflying.htm

 

[Schuman]

Thank you for the link, luckily I did stay close for a while to reassemble hive (had some crazy comb i had to cut and straighten). I went and looked in the hive today and did not see the queen but found no sign of queen cells. Therr were eggs/young larva so Im pretty sure she returned and just hid well from me this time which is fine with me.

 

[JWPalmer]

Micheal, did not know to shake a frame of bees. Thanks for the tip. Had two queens fly off on me this year, a first. Neither came back and I did wait in the same spot for quite awhile.

Schuman, sounds like you lucked out.