She has no claim on this throne, but she went in, nevertheless.
Last Saturday, I bought a nucleus hive and two queens from my mentor. (A recent flood had taken out a bunch of his 'nucs', and he only had one that he could sell me.) But I had two different hives at the house that needed to be re-queened. One had lost the queen because of an accident. The remaining workers had hustled to raise up a queen, but with no success. Another was of a removal where the queen had not transferred. I had tried to help both of the hives by sharing some brood from my successful hives, and had managed to keep the numbers high, but they had not had a queen successor to take over.
"Talk me through the process." I asked my mentor for help. Books are fine for background, but my bees don't read the same books, so I like being able to ask specific questions of people who do this professionally.
"First, go through the hive and make sure that you don't have any queen cells. Then, spread your fingers like this (looks like a deck of cards between each of his fingers), and use that space between the frames to put this box in. The workers will eat their way out, and the other workers will eat their way in.
"If, after four days, they haven't released her, pop it open and let her out manually."
Simple enough. I had inspected the hives just the previous day, and there was no queen cell present. It had surprised me a little - I had hoped that I would be able to avoid the $40 expense of buying a queen (each...). But such is life.
I did as he said, and then left the hives for a couple of days. The nuc I installed into a freshly painted hive, and left them running their lives on their own. And this afternoon, I went out to release any queen that needed a little nudge.
First hive, opened up with a slight puff of smoke, and looked down into the hive. The queen cage was still intact. I pulled the tape off the edge, and pulled the plug - still filled with bee candy - and watched as the queen marched out and disappeared down the side of the hive.
Sweet success.
Emboldened by the ease by which I had just watched that happen, I opened the other hive, and peered inside.
Same story. The workers had not eaten through the tape and candy to release the beautiful queen. So I repeated the process, cleared the dead bee from the entrance to the box (just like the first one) and watched as the fat-bottomed girl walked over the edge and disappeared.
Sweet success, part two.
I grabbed one of the other frames - one that she had NOT just walked down the face of, and glanced at it to see how much honey they had put on the frames.
Brood.
Wait. Brood only happens if you have a laying queen. There can't be brood in this one, because I don't have a...
OH, CRAP.
A gorgeous, fat, bright, yellow queen strolled across a frame of perfect brood. I watched in horror as she walked to the edge of the frame and disappeared over the edge. I had just released a second queen into a perfectly functioning hive. They HAD replaced the queen that had been lost. And I had just spent 40 dollars needlessly. Worse, I couldn't even go back and find the pretender. Or the fat girl I had just seen. They completely disappeared.
To clarify for those who don't know: one hive, one queen. Honestly, I would have expected more resistance to the entry of the second queen. But the other workers simply ignored her. So I don't know what happens next - whether there is a battle to the death, followed by a Quickening, or whether the newly introduced queen just gets ignored and starves.
But I can't worry about it too much. I have another removal tomorrow (for which I wish I had saved the queen) and another the following week. I have to get ready. And next time, when I am told to inspect to make sure there are no queen cells...
...you better believe I am going to do it, and that I am going to be thorough.
 |
| 2 queens, 2 cages, 3 nurse bees to help out. $37.50 each. |
"Talk me through the process." I asked my mentor for help. Books are fine for background, but my bees don't read the same books, so I like being able to ask specific questions of people who do this professionally.
"First, go through the hive and make sure that you don't have any queen cells. Then, spread your fingers like this (looks like a deck of cards between each of his fingers), and use that space between the frames to put this box in. The workers will eat their way out, and the other workers will eat their way in.
"If, after four days, they haven't released her, pop it open and let her out manually."
Simple enough. I had inspected the hives just the previous day, and there was no queen cell present. It had surprised me a little - I had hoped that I would be able to avoid the $40 expense of buying a queen (each...). But such is life.
I did as he said, and then left the hives for a couple of days. The nuc I installed into a freshly painted hive, and left them running their lives on their own. And this afternoon, I went out to release any queen that needed a little nudge.
First hive, opened up with a slight puff of smoke, and looked down into the hive. The queen cage was still intact. I pulled the tape off the edge, and pulled the plug - still filled with bee candy - and watched as the queen marched out and disappeared down the side of the hive.
Sweet success.
Emboldened by the ease by which I had just watched that happen, I opened the other hive, and peered inside.
Same story. The workers had not eaten through the tape and candy to release the beautiful queen. So I repeated the process, cleared the dead bee from the entrance to the box (just like the first one) and watched as the fat-bottomed girl walked over the edge and disappeared.
Sweet success, part two.
I grabbed one of the other frames - one that she had NOT just walked down the face of, and glanced at it to see how much honey they had put on the frames.
Brood.
Wait. Brood only happens if you have a laying queen. There can't be brood in this one, because I don't have a...
OH, CRAP.
A gorgeous, fat, bright, yellow queen strolled across a frame of perfect brood. I watched in horror as she walked to the edge of the frame and disappeared over the edge. I had just released a second queen into a perfectly functioning hive. They HAD replaced the queen that had been lost. And I had just spent 40 dollars needlessly. Worse, I couldn't even go back and find the pretender. Or the fat girl I had just seen. They completely disappeared.
To clarify for those who don't know: one hive, one queen. Honestly, I would have expected more resistance to the entry of the second queen. But the other workers simply ignored her. So I don't know what happens next - whether there is a battle to the death, followed by a Quickening, or whether the newly introduced queen just gets ignored and starves.
But I can't worry about it too much. I have another removal tomorrow (for which I wish I had saved the queen) and another the following week. I have to get ready. And next time, when I am told to inspect to make sure there are no queen cells...
...you better believe I am going to do it, and that I am going to be thorough.
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