[greathorned]

Hi All
I will be (weather cooperating) Splitting down a 3-Deep Super Hive into starter nucs this afternoon. I intend on separating all 3 deep supers in an attempt to isolate the Queen by listening for the roar from the 2 deeps without the Queen. I further intend on placing the Deep with the quiet box and queen back on the base after I am done, and hopefully not have to dig into it, which effectively would be a walk-away on that Box. My question is how long on average does it take to feel certain, based on the roar, which Deep supers are without Queen ? Thanks for your input.
regards,
Greathorned

 

[Grasshopper]

I can tell the difference in about 10 minutes. It's not just the sound that helps you either. The queen less portion will be much more animated. Lots of bees scurrying around the frames, some up in the air. The box with the queen will be quiet and calm. Simply going about their business.

Good luck!

 

[Michael Bush]

>I can tell the difference in about 10 minutes.

Agreed. Sometimes less...

 

[drlonzo]

Mine are the same. When i do an inspection I use an old nuc box turned upside down to put the frames into. While doing the inspection i can tell the second that i put the frame with the queen into that box. The whole demeanor changes from scurry around fly up at me to sitting still and doing their normal thing. The roar you can hear quite well after about 10 min. If you're doing a walk away split make sure you put a frame of eggs into each of the queenless sections...

 

[Michael Bush]

You can pretty much tell which stack of boxes the queen is in by the roar...

 

[imthedude]

how about ease of agitation? is that a good measure?