Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: slacker361 on April 04, 2011, 07:37:59 PM

Title: did I kill my queen
Post by: slacker361 on April 04, 2011, 07:37:59 PM
Well today I hived my two boxes of bees into two separate hives. call all the equipment there and all ready to go when I realized that I forgot my marshmallow..  so I thought this queen has been with these bees for some time now, Ill just uncork her and put the queen cage in the hive.

so my question is will the bees kill her or has she been in with those bees long enough to be ok

thanks
Title: Re: did I kill my queen
Post by: T Beek on April 04, 2011, 07:43:28 PM
If these were packages and they spent at least 48 hours together before hiving you should be ok. 

thomas
Title: Re: did I kill my queen
Post by: backyard warrior on April 04, 2011, 08:02:45 PM
sounds good to me t beek :)
Title: Re: did I kill my queen
Post by: organicfarmer on April 04, 2011, 09:32:08 PM
Marshmallow? Didn't the queen cage come all equipped with candy plug?
Michael Bush does direct release and does not have problem with that. I once did it and it seemed that the bees either frantically overjoyed, created a welcoming committee and surrounded the queen, or balled her.
Use of smoke to mask scents and create general confusion is supposed to work well for direct release.
Title: Re: did I kill my queen
Post by: schawee on April 04, 2011, 09:32:28 PM
she will be fine.     ....schawee
Title: Re: did I kill my queen
Post by: Michael Bush on April 05, 2011, 05:33:44 AM
I haven't seen a queen cage with candy in it in some time.  All the packages from California come with California cages which have no candy.  I always direct release the queen in a package.
Title: Re: did I kill my queen
Post by: T Beek on April 05, 2011, 06:52:05 AM
I agree w/ MB on direct releasing queens, especially when she's been with a package.  It saves having to come back in 2-3 days to make sure she's out.  My Package bees come from Texas and as of last year they still come w/ candy blocks.

thomas