[kwright]

Recently I purchased an extra queen thinking the hive was queenless. Low and behold by the time the queen arrived there was ample signs of brood and honey stores and pollen. So . . . I took 2 frames of brood/nectar mix and the bees on the frame and one frame of honey/pollen mix with the bees on the frame and put them into a new hive box along with the new queen in her queen cage. I uncorked the cage and replaced the cork with a marshmallow since the queen's attendants had already made a dent in the sugar. They have been together (without being able to leave the hive) with a paint can of 1:1 sugar syrup on the hive for 3 days. Is that long enough for the bees to accept the new queen as their own? Can I open the hive again after 3 days of their being together and expect the bees in the new hive to stay there and not move back to their original hive?

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[drlonzo]

Actually you could have left them open with the new queen and been just fine. Go ahead and open up that hive and allow them to do their thing. Did you have them in shaded conditions or in the sun? Overheating could cause them to die if not.

 

[kwright]

drlonzo,
They are in a spot that gets the sun first thing in the morning and by 1:30 they are in the shade for the remainder of the day. i placed popcycle sticks between the two boxes so the would get some air.

 

[Michael Bush]

>Low and behold by the time the queen arrived there was ample signs of brood and honey stores and pollen.

You are only the 5,324,498th person to ever do that... probably because the books keep telling you that if you have no eggs or brood you have no queen, which, as you found out, is not true.

 

[kwright]

Well, MB, at least I'm in good company!!
I'm heading out to "unleash the hounds" and let the girls do what they do best.
Lesson understood for this 1st year beek!
Not saying I'm smart enough to not let it happen again. But, hey, some things we just have to learn the hard way.