I was thinking of checking my queen today, to see if she's been released.
Stupid young cat, thinks grabbing bees is fun thing to do, and he got a few after him. He'll learn. ;)
I put him up, now how long should I wait for them to settle back down, before I access the hive?
Beekeeping for beginners says EHB will stay riled up for 23 mins. I guess that could be a very general number I think it more depends on the hive. I HAD one hive that stayed riled up for well over an hour, they are gone now :evil:, some of my other hives 10 15 mins at most then they are back to normal
How long has it been since you put her in?
Is this an old colony or a new package?
I'd say wait till tomorrow.doak
New package. I hived them last thursday.
Should be ok to go ahead after a couple hours.
doak
Personally I would give them a full week to really settle into the hive before looking in there again.
If you are just talking about being upset that a cat was catching them... a few minutes and a puff of smoke. Not too big of a deal.
But you should get in there soon just to check the queen and remove the cage. If you left a frame out they will draw comb in that empty slot really quick. And if the queen's loose lay it up, and it is hard to take out a big comb full of brood. :roll:
Rick
I went in today. It was a much better day. Bees were pretty calm, queen was released. I removed some burr comb, and slid the frames together as best I could. The center frames were covered with bees pretty thick. I presume the queen was in there although I couldn't see her, with so many bees.
I did see they were drawing comb on the frames, had some beginnings of nectar (probably syrup), saw some with pollen of their legs.
Overall, it went well.
:)
>Beekeeping for beginners says EHB will stay riled up for 23 mins.
Wow! That sounds pretty specific. :)
I've had them settle down as I watched (hive was open the whole time). Worked easy and no problems. If I picked a bad day they stayed riled for a bit then settled. Guards were up later that day but never more than buzzed the head. Just depends on type of day, flow/no flow or what kind of a klutz I am at the time, and all tied together.