the hive i thought was queenless wasn't, so i had an extra SMR queen... i took a plastic frame of capped brood, larva, and honey from the one styro hive, stuck it in another styro deep, then i banged off two frames of nurse bees from the wood hive i have (the only hive i thought could easily spare the bees) into the styro and stuck the queen cage in the styro deep with the nurse bees and capped brood frame. Then, because the hives are only across the yard from each other (not two miles away), i blocked up the entrance with newspaper hoping the nurse bees wouldn't go home to the wood hive. They have figured out how to get out (day three) at the corner of the entrance, but just as many go in as go out, and they mostly circle around like they are confused (the entrances of the wood hive and the styro hives face different cardinal directions). Because there are so few bees and they are mostly nurse bees, when i check to see if the queen is released on Saturday, should i also give them an extra frame of capped honey to feed from? Does this whole slapdash affair have any chance of succeeding? (i just hated to waste a marked SMR queen...)
beefree