I'm such an idiot

Started by hardwood, April 28, 2010, 12:40:02 AM

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hardwood

April 28, 2010, 12:40:02 AM
Got home from Bud's place at 4am. Got up early this morning to check my hives before work and lo and behold, my two cut outs from late last week had absconded. It's my own dang fault too. I always cull the extra unused comb and any honey from my cut outs in an effort to reduce the transfer of SHB with the already stressed colony and then feed 1:1 for a while to help them establish. I include a frame or two of drawn comb so the queen can get to work too.Well, I must have just spaced out getting ready for the trip or something and forgot to fill the feeders before we left.

These were two really strong colonies and, since we're between little "mini flows" here right now, I guess they got a little hungry and decided to head for a better place...at least that's the only thing I can come up with. Anyone have different thoughts? Maybe they just didn't like me :? It wouldn't be stress from robbing because they had 0 stores. Varroa and SHB weren't an issue and both queens seemed to be in good shape.

Any ideas are appreciated...maybe I can prevent this in the future.

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Understudy

#1
May 07, 2010, 12:43:33 PM
I am glad you made it home safe from Bud's I had a great time.

In regards to your cut out.

Put an excluder between the bottom hive box and the entrance board. This basically makes it a queen includer. The hives may try to abscond but if the queen is in the box they will fly back. Leave this on for at least two weeks. Continue to feed the sugar water.

What it seems like happened is they got stressed from the cut out and wanted to get out of there. They drank a bunch of the sugar water and filled themselves up so they would have reserves when they bolted.

Set up some swarm traps so if it happens again they might be inclined to fly to those and you can try again.

Sincerely,
Brendhan
The status is not quo. The world is a mess and I just need to rule it. Dr. Horrible
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