[hartwig]

Got asked a question and I didn't know answer cause I never tried it. Person wanted to know if you could take a caged queen and put it in a box with drawn comb frames,from dead outs, and shake about 2 or 3 pounds of bees off brood frames out of mature hive or out of swarms that's been caught and make like a package of bees you buy.Will it work? I know would have to relocate to another yard.Reason wanting to do this is because honey flow is on and doesn't want to pull brood and interrupt the girls from putting juice in the honey supers.

 

[BGhoney]

Other than the queen traveling with the package for a few days, that is exactly what a package is. If you added mostly young nurse bees you wouldn't have to have drawn frames. Also with nurse bees you wouldn't have to move them, most would stay. You could block them in for 24 also.

 

[Beeslave]

It would be best to relocate them a few miles away. Drawn comb will give them a head start. Wait 12-24 hrs before putting the queen in or don't give access to the candy in the cage for a day or 2. 1 frame of brood(open) removed isn't going to hurt the mother colony to much and it will make queen acceptance better. It will also lessen the chance of absconding