Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: dmccomb on July 31, 2018, 01:29:13 am
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I have recently split a strong colony and introduced a new queen to both. After 3 days I checked the new queens and took the tape off so they could be released when the candy plug was removed by the bees. I also switched the position of the hives because the colony in the original position was getting all the field bees. It's been 3 days and I would like to switch them around again to gain workers to the colony with less forager bees. Will this work? My idea is to keep switching them every three days until they equal out. So, how often can a switch be made? What would be the best time interval between switches?
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If you are just picking up complete hives and not disturbing them then I do not see a problem. If you are taking them apart or are inspecting them every 3 days, that would bee a serious problem. A better idea is to put the 2 hives facing each other right next to their original location with the center of them being the original location.
Jim
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Add your location to your profile.
Jim
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If you keep switching them you might not have hives that make it through winter.
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Let the strong hive get all the field bees at first. Then later when the broods are cap just transfer a few
frames over to the weak hive without the attaching bees. Once the bees emerged they will strengthen the weak hive.
Switching is only temporarily so let the foragers do their work first.