Background:
I bought 3 packages and installed them on April 27th. All are doing will with new emerging bees now. They are lined up on a hive stand side by side and the one on the right is twice as strong as the other two. When I installed them I believe a lot of the bees that were flying from all three packages ended up in this third hive on the right.
Situation:
Bought a russian queen from Walter Kelley, she arrived yesterday and I pulled a couple of frames of nectar/honey and a couple of frames of brood in all stages and a couple of frames of partially drawn comb from the strongest hive and put them into a new hive about ten feet away from the original three. The queen cage was placed on top of these frames and hive covered. Today when I checked on them they are completely covering the queen cage, the cork is still in place. There are also a few of the displaced nurse bees doing orientation flights around this new hive.
Question:
If I move this new hive over next to the strong hive that I took the frames from, will some of the returning foragers choose this hive as there home? Would the forager bees be less likely to accept this new queen and damage/kill her? Should I just shake in some more nurse bees and leave the new hive a short distance from the others? How long should I wait to pull the cork and let the bees start working on the candy plug?
I bought 3 packages and installed them on April 27th. All are doing will with new emerging bees now. They are lined up on a hive stand side by side and the one on the right is twice as strong as the other two. When I installed them I believe a lot of the bees that were flying from all three packages ended up in this third hive on the right.
Situation:
Bought a russian queen from Walter Kelley, she arrived yesterday and I pulled a couple of frames of nectar/honey and a couple of frames of brood in all stages and a couple of frames of partially drawn comb from the strongest hive and put them into a new hive about ten feet away from the original three. The queen cage was placed on top of these frames and hive covered. Today when I checked on them they are completely covering the queen cage, the cork is still in place. There are also a few of the displaced nurse bees doing orientation flights around this new hive.
Question:
If I move this new hive over next to the strong hive that I took the frames from, will some of the returning foragers choose this hive as there home? Would the forager bees be less likely to accept this new queen and damage/kill her? Should I just shake in some more nurse bees and leave the new hive a short distance from the others? How long should I wait to pull the cork and let the bees start working on the candy plug?