Killing bees with honey

[greenbtree]

Another steep learning curve item.  I got a new queen in her cage and she came with attendant bees.  The weather had turned cold and nasty and I needed to search a hive that I had split in two to find out where the original queen was so I could install the new queen in the other one.  So I opened the new queen package put in a clean soda cap of water and one of extracted honey.  Next  morning two attendants were dead.  No big deal it happens I figured.  By evening 2/3 of the attendants were dead and the four left were trying to groom the dying.  I opened the box back up to remove the dead bees and they were all sticky.  Meanwhile the queen was running around in her cage all upset.  I removed the honey, the dead bees, and left just the water.

Next morning the last four attendants were still alive.  I put up a tent, put in an electric heater, and did hive inspections in there.  Installed queen and last four attendants.  Time will tell.

I don't know what those bees did... Did they go swimming or what?  The honey was from last year out of hive I split - don't think it was contaminated in any way.  I have fed the same comb in frames to a weak hive with no problems.  Weird.

JC

[buzzbee]

I think just a couple drops with an eye dropper would have been sufficient. How large was your queen cage? I know most queen cages I have received had a queen and four or five attendants total.
http://www.bees-online.com/QueenCage.htm

[iddee]

They drowned. I stick my finger in the honey and rub the screen. That's all they need.

[greenbtree]

My friend had picked up the queens from a beek about an hour away.  Each queen came with about 15 attendants roughly.  I guess that is more than usual.  Drowning - that is kind of what I suspected was going on.  I guess they just don't know what to do with honey in that quantity and form.  I keep learning....

JC

[Michael Bush]

The problem is that they are trying to find a way out, not trying to find food and so they end up a sticky mess.  Some candy or dry sugar and a drop of water a day would have been a better bet.