My Queen flew off - will she fly back to the hive?

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 12:50:17 PM

Hi Everybody, i'm in australia - it's winter at the moment. A long story short i got given a log with a small hive in it a few weeks ago. I wasnt 100% certain if there was a queen in there... i built a small 4 frame nuc out of an 8 frame medium super with 4 drawn combs. I put in a false wall and on the other side of the false wall a light for heat. I had to get the comb out of the log to make 100% certain i had a queen. Tonight i took the hive from my porch and took it in to my garage - i cut the comb out of the log and put it in a frame. Anyway, in the log i found the queen... i picked her up on the end of my hive tool and as i was walking her over to the nucleus she flew off. The garage is a one car garage and fully secure... she can't get out. I have switched off all the lights and just left the light on that's in the empty space of the hive so there is a 'glow' coming out of the vent hole etc. What i am wondering is will the queen fly back to the hive? or will she possibly perch on a wall and just stay there? I'm hoping she flies back to the hive because in the morning i want to put the hive back where it was originally positioned. I wanted to do that tonight but since the queen flew off i didnt want to take the hive out of the garage just in case she hadnt gone back to it...

Any advice would be much appreciated

D Coates · July 30, 2010, 01:58:43 PM

I feel for you. I had that happen to me about a month ago. She didn't make it back but I have 11 other hives. There's nothing you can do about it other than listen and watch for eggs or emergency supercedure cells. Are there any other hives around? If she goes to the wrong one she'll be killed. She'll try to get back. I'd say you've got a 50/50 chance of her coming back. Mine didn't so hopefully you'll be on the flipside of the coin. Give them a few days and they'll let you know what happened. Good Luck!

AllenF · July 30, 2010, 03:17:04 PM

She may fly back to the log, if it is in the garage with her. You may want to look in to getting a queen cage for the future. Like the ones JP uses. Keep the queen in there in the new hive for a day or two will keep the rest of the bees from leaving a new hive.

hardwood · July 30, 2010, 04:40:29 PM

If you're absolutely sure she can't get out of the garage just wait...the bees will find her for you and form a cluster.

Scott

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 06:09:38 PM

Should I just leave the hive in the dark garage for a day or so? Should the light help her find her way back? Obviously the hive entrance is open at the moment...

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 06:14:50 PM

Sorry for yet another question... Should I take the lid off and put a feeder on top of the frames?

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 06:56:16 PM

Or should I turn the main garage light on and let the all fly around and, if the queen is still out, hopefully find her?

Storm · July 30, 2010, 07:07:57 PM

I wouldn't leave the main garage light on. If she does the moth-to-a-flame thing and starts buzzing against the bulb, she could die of exertion. I'd leave the lights off, and check every once in awhile until either she gets back to the hive, or the hive finds her and clusters.

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 07:18:08 PM

Thanks storm... Done-main light won't go on. I've left the heat light on though. I also took the lid off and put an inverted jar feeder on-they're surprisingly docile and there's no out of the ordinary buzz. Will bees fly to a queen in almost darkness? Thanks for your help everyone...

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 11:04:41 PM

Just checked on them-they're quiet-no abnormal buzz, no fanning, just feeding and working on the comb. I can shine a torch in there (the lid is off) and they don't pay any attention to me...

OzBuzz · July 30, 2010, 11:21:50 PM

I FOUND HER :) she was in a shoe I was just about to put on! I thought I'd shake it first just in case she was in there! A bit dazed but she is now safely back in the hive

Storm · July 30, 2010, 11:26:07 PM

Glad she made it safely back.

David Stokely · July 31, 2010, 09:10:56 AM

Wow. That is very cool. What luck in finding her in a shoe. . . :)

skflyfish · July 31, 2010, 09:16:46 AM

Your feet sweat may have a future as a queen lure. :-D

D Coates · August 07, 2010, 02:10:31 PM

Thanks for the update. Finding her involved great forethought on your part.

gunner7888 · August 07, 2010, 03:07:39 PM

Glad to hear you found her. Was following aong with your dilema. So goes a day in the life of a Beek. They always keep us on our toes ( or is that scratching our heads?)

bugleman · August 07, 2010, 04:01:46 PM

Quote from: hardwood on July 30, 2010, 04:40:29 PM
If you're absolutely sure she can't get out of the garage just wait...the bees will find her for you and form a cluster.

Scott

Excellent advice!

Glad you found your queen.

I was doing a newspaper combine of a nuk into a queenless hive and after inspecting each frame and putting them into the new hive, I checked the walls of the nuk box for the queen. I found her and due to the awkwardness of reaching into the hard walled box I didn't feel comfortable reaching in and grabbing her or banging the box onto the top bars as she might not of landed in the newspaper section. So, I herded her down using my hand and when she was about 6" from the top bars I gently knocked her down thinking she would land on the top bars of the new hive and crawl down. She was a large queen with a huge abdomen. Being a fresh queen her abdomen was fat but the tip hadn't gone to a full point yet. So, as she fell after about 2 inches she started to fly and then to my horror, like a fire bomber dropping water in front of a mountain she started to pull up and skimmed over the top bars into the wild blue yonder. :shock: :?

I put her nuk back but she never returned. She would have been a good queen. :-*