I tried this just last week. I do not know if it has worked.
I shook the laying worker hive out 100 yards plus, out of sight and through the brush from the original hive.
In its place I left 4 frames of foundation and 3 frames of recently harvested comb and a frame of brood. I placed a caged queen with those frames.
By the time I arrived back at the hive location it was already getting packed with forager bees.
I then placed one 8 frame box from those I had just shook out on top of the first box.
I left the queen in her cage for two days and then removed the cork plug from the candy end of the cage. She was doing ok when I pulled the cork
Today I checked and all the candy has been removed and she was released.
From the responses I have read what are my chances of success?
If it was a mated queen, I would give it a about 95% chance. If it was inmates, I would give it 60%
1 in 20 she may be accepted. 19 in 20 she's already dead.
Michael,
Why do you say that. If that was the case we would never buy queens.
Are you saying he did something wrong or that even when shook out, the laying worker hive will not accept a new queen?
I did this with my first hive, had a defective queen, and the new queen survived but the beetles took over. I gave the queen back to my supplier and he gave me a new hive.
Jim
I have many times tried shaking out a laying worker hive with a new queen I was hoping to get accepted. My success rate was about 1 in 20 until I gave it up. Not good enough odds for me. The whole thing is based an erroneous belief that laying workers can't find their way back. They do.
I would not put anything at the old location and shake them all out and put the equipment on the other hives. They will move into the other hives as beggars. Or I'd give them a frame of open brood and eggs every week for three weeks. I would not waste a queen on the attempt to get them to accept a queen.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfallacies.htm#shakingout
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm
Thanks.