Regardless of how you got here, whether you simply waited or you used some interim measure to try it first, the time finally comes to apply the cone you bought from Brushy Mountain Bee Farms. And it works.
The bees are able to get out, but not get back in. The escaped bees look for a new home, and find one in your hive, hung next to the entrance on the escape ladder, carefully draped and secured over the top of the wall, 35' above the concrete.
For some of you who got here after doing other things, you removed the multiple attempts at sealing off the holes and attached the cone. For those who came straight here, you sealed up the other entrances with expanding foam sealer and attached the cone.
Either way, the cone directs the bees out of the hive, and does not let them back in.
The result is very exciting.
Bees out and about.... and not going back in. A couple of adjustments a couple of days later, and the box is close enough to draw the bees into the space that smells like bees. Once the bees have started to see it as a home, you take a couple of frames of brood stolen from one of your backyard hives, and place them in the box. And then you wait.
For two weeks you wait, leaving the whole setup alone. Of course, you check it out every other day, just to make sure that the seals hold.
Two weeks later, you take the box down, and open it up.
Inside, you see this:
In the two weeks since you put two frames of eggs and brood in the box, the bees inside have taken three of those eggs and made them into queen cells, fed the larvae, closed her up to let her pupate, and then waited. And she emerged!
You look carefully through the five frames to see if you can could find her (virgin queens are harder to spot) or if she was laying yet. No eggs. Someone who might be a queen.... but not sure.
Either way, she is there.
And...
She has already started taking care of business.
One hive, One queen. Inviolate rule. So, since the bees in the box raised THREE queens, her first job is to eliminate rivals. She emerged first, and then quickly ran over to the other two, chewed an opening into their pupa cells, and stung them to death.
Ruthless. But effective.
The workers then pulled the carcasses of the dead queen bees out and discarded them, leaving behind a ragged shell of what originally housed royalty.
You are pretty sure that you arrived on day 17 of the queen's life, after she emerged, and before her mating flight. There were no eggs or brood in the hive. But you now have a hive with a viable queen.
Partial success to your mission of removing the bees!
Meanwhile, more bees continue to emerge from the auditorium, and they seem to find their way into the box. At this point, however, you are trying to figure out whether to try another box to capture the remainder of the bees. After all, the bees emerging from the hive in the wall are not welcome in the new queendom...
Huge success here. You should be proud of yourself. And please, help yourself to a little celebration for your success: a cocktail that truly fits the bill: the bees knees.
The bees are able to get out, but not get back in. The escaped bees look for a new home, and find one in your hive, hung next to the entrance on the escape ladder, carefully draped and secured over the top of the wall, 35' above the concrete.
For some of you who got here after doing other things, you removed the multiple attempts at sealing off the holes and attached the cone. For those who came straight here, you sealed up the other entrances with expanding foam sealer and attached the cone.
Either way, the cone directs the bees out of the hive, and does not let them back in.
Bees out and about.... and not going back in. A couple of adjustments a couple of days later, and the box is close enough to draw the bees into the space that smells like bees. Once the bees have started to see it as a home, you take a couple of frames of brood stolen from one of your backyard hives, and place them in the box. And then you wait.
For two weeks you wait, leaving the whole setup alone. Of course, you check it out every other day, just to make sure that the seals hold.
Two weeks later, you take the box down, and open it up.
Inside, you see this:
In the two weeks since you put two frames of eggs and brood in the box, the bees inside have taken three of those eggs and made them into queen cells, fed the larvae, closed her up to let her pupate, and then waited. And she emerged!
You look carefully through the five frames to see if you can could find her (virgin queens are harder to spot) or if she was laying yet. No eggs. Someone who might be a queen.... but not sure.
Either way, she is there.
And...
She has already started taking care of business.
One hive, One queen. Inviolate rule. So, since the bees in the box raised THREE queens, her first job is to eliminate rivals. She emerged first, and then quickly ran over to the other two, chewed an opening into their pupa cells, and stung them to death.
Ruthless. But effective.
The workers then pulled the carcasses of the dead queen bees out and discarded them, leaving behind a ragged shell of what originally housed royalty.You are pretty sure that you arrived on day 17 of the queen's life, after she emerged, and before her mating flight. There were no eggs or brood in the hive. But you now have a hive with a viable queen.
Partial success to your mission of removing the bees!
Meanwhile, more bees continue to emerge from the auditorium, and they seem to find their way into the box. At this point, however, you are trying to figure out whether to try another box to capture the remainder of the bees. After all, the bees emerging from the hive in the wall are not welcome in the new queendom...
Huge success here. You should be proud of yourself. And please, help yourself to a little celebration for your success: a cocktail that truly fits the bill: the bees knees.
No comments:
Post a Comment