Finding Queen When you Need To?

mgmoore7 · September 08, 2007, 07:32:12 PM

I have a hive that I need to reqeen. I got the queen this morning. I have looked twice in the hive. Lots of signs of a queen but no queen.

I am requeening as this hive is just no fun to work. I get stung every time I work them and they are just constanting buzzing me.

So how do I find the queen when I need to?

How long will my queen last? She is in a plastic cage with the candy cork? What do I need to do. I won't be able to get back in that hive until tomorrow mid afternoon.

Moonshae · September 08, 2007, 07:50:48 PM

Pull out every frame, look carefully at each side. Of course, if you don't catch and kill the queen, your requeening will be unsuccessful.

Until you can put your queen in the hive, give her a drop of water every day, and keep the cage in a cool, dark place. Are there attendants in the cage with her? That would be better. You should requeen as soon as you can, though.

n9kww · September 08, 2007, 08:04:12 PM

Before you put in a new queen you can always mark them, it does make it easyer to find them later.

mgmoore7 · September 08, 2007, 08:31:57 PM

The new queen is marked and that is part of the reason to reqeen. Africanized hives are a reality here in central Florida and marked queens helps you know you don't have africanized bees.

randydrivesabus · September 08, 2007, 08:41:54 PM

theres a way to get the queen onto a frame of brood you install from another hive.....this came up recently on this board so if you look around you should be able to find it.

annette · September 08, 2007, 11:50:36 PM

Place a frame of brood from another hive into this hive. Wait a few minutes and then check that frame of brood. The different smell of the brood should attract the queen to check it out. This is the advice I received from this beeforum.

mgmoore7 · September 09, 2007, 08:06:13 PM

Well, I was not successfull. I did some searching and tried everything that others have suggested as well as yall. I give up.

Anyone need a queen?

Kathyp · September 09, 2007, 10:02:23 PM

you could take each frame and knock the bees off onto a sheet. put frames back in hive. after a bit, you'll probably be able to see a ball of bees on the sheet and the queen will be in it. protect yourself.

Michael Bush · September 09, 2007, 10:42:12 PM

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm

If that doesn't help you can divide and conquer. If you put an excluder between every box and come back in four days the box with eggs had the queen.

Understudy · September 09, 2007, 10:48:51 PM

I still have problems finding my queens don't feel bad. A hive with just three mediums of brood can be a lot to look through. I once found my queen on the frame in the top box of a six body hive laying some drone cells. And that was when I wasn't looking for her.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

TwT · September 10, 2007, 01:27:26 AM

the best training for finding queens is practice, everytime you inspect a hive you should be looking for the queen, when you cant find the queen and find new eggs you know she's there and most stop looking them, after a while you can find her, sometimes you can hunt for hours and never find her but most the time you can, I when out and check 60 nucps and then checked 25 full 10 frame 2-3 deeps and found all in the nucs, (they easy) but out of the 25 big hive I couldn't find 4 queens, looked everywhere but found new eggs so I knew they was there< after so long you get tired of looking, well next trip out I found those 4 and marked them...... just practice makes it easier.....you will also find virgin queens after some time also..... but they can be tough, just got to look for the bald on their back....

JP · September 10, 2007, 02:20:31 AM

Sometimes, we can try too hard to find her, and then give up. I have a different approach. If I don't find her the first round, I usually find her on the second, sometimes third round. You know she's there, she's just being slick and evasive. When she's being slick, she may constantly be on the move, avoiding you, one step ahead of you. Go do something else, check another hive, something, then go back in and walla! There she is. Mg, I know you're probably thinking, right, I tried everything and still can't find her. Another thing, sometimes she may be on the interior wall of the super, because she felt your presence, or was just real light sensitive. Hope you find her Mg, good luck.

TwT · September 10, 2007, 02:40:10 AM

oh and another tip when looking for a queen, dont smoke the hive, smoke will only make a queen run.....

JP · September 10, 2007, 02:43:30 AM

Ted, I was going to suggest the smoking issue also, but Mg said the bees are hottttt! :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

TwT · September 10, 2007, 03:25:48 AM

yeah but the way he is talking I bet he smoke them and they still hot, good bee suit is needed then :-D ;)

mgmoore7 · September 10, 2007, 09:41:56 AM

Thanks guys for all of the tips. Unfortunalty, I have already tried all of these tips.

This is a single deep hive.

The last time I checked frame by frame I did not smoke them at all. Many more bees buzzing me but amazingly, I think that was the first time I did not get stung by this hive. I also tried dropping them all down into a box with a queen excluder on top of another box but they would not go through the excluder and rather just ran up the sides of the box on top.

I started to try the drop them all on the sheet method about 35 feet away but I stopped before I was finished. There were so many bees, I just could not figure how it was going to help me find the queen.

Quite frustrated with this at the moment.

Thinking of doing a split and using my new queen. I will probably have to do it today though as it is now the third day in the cage.

TwT · September 10, 2007, 09:51:13 AM

she will be fine in the cage for a week or 2, just give them a drop or two of water a day and keep in dark cool area.... you still have plenty of time to find the other queen if you want...

Michael Bush · September 10, 2007, 10:19:52 PM

Finding a queen is a skill worth cultivating. An umarked queen in an observation hive is the best way to develop it. You can find the queen every day, several times a day. Next best is have a small nuc with a spare queen and go find her every day. A two frame nuc is good practice as you know she's most likely on one of the two frames. Sometimes she's on the wall or on the bottom or on the lid, but she's ALMOST always on one of those two combs. :)

sc-bee · September 11, 2007, 12:21:47 AM

As TWT said you still got time. Give her a drop or two of water, keep her out of the sun. Be careful not too much water at a time.

Divide the hive--put some frames in another box and walk off for a short while. Come back and check the two boxes--- sometimes the ones without the queen in it are more fidgety.

I have a hive that I have not been able to find the queen in the last three entries. I usually make two passes and surrender :-D. She's there cus I see eggs.

mgmoore7 · September 11, 2007, 08:49:56 AM

Ok, thanks everyone. I think I have decided to make a split and replace this queen the next time I find her and get a queen then.

I am going to post another question I have about doing a split.