Is it a loss??

[tatonka]

Yes I'm new to this so bare with me....I hived some wild bees about 40 days ago with a couple chunks of brood comb.  I was sure I had gotten the queen since I had captured 90 percent of the hive.  They took to my box well and started building a little comb then I realized the queen was not present.  I ordered a queen and installed her yesterday but I fear I'm too late.  The number of bees has dwindled down from about the size of a soccer ball to about 80 bees.  Is there a chance they can keep my new queen alive long enough to get going or am I waisting my time?

If I can get my hands on a swarm can it be successfully introduced to her if I remove the queen from the wild swarm?

Thanks for the help,

[Miss Chick-a-BEE]

Very little chance the hive can be saved with that few bees. If you had another hive to add them too, that would be a good idea. But I'm guessing you don't.

And yes, putting the queen with another swarm would be fine. But how will you find a swarm just instantly? You need to find it right away. The queen needs care - royal jelly and all. But if you find a swarm ASAP, you could add the few bees AND the queen to that (newspaper method).

Beth

[Michael Bush]

If you can get the 80 bees and the queen in a small box they might last a while, especially with some candy for feed.  But they probably won't get going with that few bees.  But 80 bees can keep a queen alive a lot longer then four or five attendants.

[tatonka]

Thanks for the help....

I just let the new queen loose into the hive this afternoon.  The bees were doing a lousy job of digging through all that candy so I smoked them a bit and let her make a run for the entrance.  It's been almost 3 days so I hope they won't kill her.  Maybe they'll keep her going long enough for me to find some replacement bees.

I keep seeing on the news where the fire Dept. is soaping up another swarm but I'll be danged if I can get my hands on some.

Eric