Hey all,
I just made a split from a very strong hive. I tried this about 2-months ago but by the end of the day,all of the bees had drifted back to the original hive and I was left with only a few nurse bees and a queen that didn't quite make it. I ordered a new queen from Beeweaver and put together a nice little split of about 3 frames of brood/larvae, honey and some pollen. I have read somewhere that you can screen off the entrance of the new hive for about 24-hours to allow the bees to accept the phermones of the new queen. Is this true?Will this avoid the dreaded drift? I was going to come home tomorrow and remove the screen from the entrance and put the entrance reducer on to the 4" setting until they establish themselves a bit better.
Any help or suggestions are GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!