Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: Georgia Boy on March 17, 2013, 08:47:41 pm
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Ok guys here to pick your brains again.
Getting my hives on Wednesday, they happen to be cedar hives. Want my bee to stay and not abscond. I realize that no matter what you do they may leave anyway however I will do anything to prevent it.
Please give me your ideas to help stop them from leaving.
First let me say I don't have any old comb to place in the hives so thats out. Thought about putting some lemon grass oil in the hive but don't know if that will help or not.
Please Help!
Thanks
David
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Are you getting a package? Don't release the queen too soon . And spray your foundations lightly with a little sugar water to get them interested.And keep the entrance reducer on. The bees will not want to leave without the queen.
Keep the syrup feeders on.
I would forego the lemongrass oil right now. Too much is not good.
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Keep the syrup on them also. They do not want to leave that queen behind. (As long as she is the only queen in the package.) Hopefully be the time the bees release her, they will have the house in order and a hive started for her.
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To much lemongrass oil will drive them out of the hive. Been there done that! Keep a syrup feeder on them until they build out some comb.
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You could also put a queen excluder between the bottom board and the bottom hive body, thus making in a queen includer. Leave it this way until your queen is released and laying eggs.
James
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Yes the first bees I will get will be packages. I get them around the 30th.
I will be getting 2 ncus around the 15th of April.
I am more worried about the packages than I am the nucs.
Thanks for the responses. Keep them coming. The more information I get the more comfortable I feel.
Thanks again.
David
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Georgia Boy,
I've never done a package so have to hands on experience. But if I did one, I'd take heed of what buzzbee is saying. I've read and seen in numerous places that the new recommendation it to prolong the releasing of the queen. I want to say I've seen to wait an additional 3 to 5 days after installation of the package before removing the plug on the candy...then to check back in another 2 to 3 days.
Good Luck! :)
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If your queen has been in with the package a couple days, go ahead and remove the plug over the candy end. If you are unsure about this plug, ask your package supplier when you pick up your bees. Some people get a little nervous first time and unplug the wrong end. This has resulted in a direct release,which is okay sometimes , or a queen flying off.
I have already put a small nail hole through the candy to speed up the rerlease, but that was when we had cool weather up here. I would not recoomend this method for your first time as their is always the danger of spearing the queen.
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You could also put a queen excluder between the bottom board and the bottom hive body, thus making in a queen includer. Leave it this way until your queen is released and laying eggs.
James
+1 on that. The queen will have no way of getting out and the bees won't leave without her. Don't leave it on to long, drones can't get out either. One they have a bit of brood they are anchored.
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You can do the includer, but in my experience, caged or not, included or not, the bees often move next door to a better smelling queen and leave the inferior one behind. Queen quality has been on a steady decline for the last 15 years or more.
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If you use the "let them eat the candy and release her" method and she has attendants inside the queen cage with her be sure the plug end is at least tilted slightly upwards so that if a worker dies it won't block the escape hatch. :)
Watch the bees....if they're all balled up over the queen cage (and queen) and acting aggressive towards her (you can tell) then you don't want to let her out to be murdered. On the other hand is the bees are attentive and appear to be feeding her through the openings of the cage then you can probably open the plug for them. I you do open the plug up for them I would immediately put the top on the hive before she walks out so that she can't just simply look up and decide she wants to be a free-bee and fly away. :shock:
I've requeened only a couple of hives and I allowed the bees to eat the plug out....just those couple of times it seemed to work "ok".
Ed
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Thanks guys,
David