Apidea queen took flight

[rje66]

Was having a peek to check things were progressing in the box and she took off. What's the chances she will make it back??. I keep it up on a wall,but had lifted it down to look.
Lesson learned perhaps

 

[domino]

This is my first year of queen rearing and the same thing happened to me. They seem rather flighty when young, not sure how long it takes for them to calm down a little.

Mine never came back btw.

 

[B+.]

What's the chances she will make it back??.

If she is accustomed to the nuc/bees, there is a chance. I had a queen who had been caged within a colony for a couple of days take flight yesterday. I closed the hive and sat a couple of metres away in the long grass so I could watch the hive entrance. She came back several times then few up into the sky again. She eventually went in.
I have had queens that have disappeared never to return too though. It goes with the territory :-(
Its always best to check nucs towards the end of the day as virgins/newly mated queens can be very flighty.

 

[madasafish]

I only open up mating nucs "to have a peek" after 2 weeks by when she has likely mated and/or done an orientation flight.

Had lots of flying queens - especially mated ones I am trying to mark.. This year flying usually means badly mated and DLQ:-(

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Hopefully she comes back. In my limited experience they do IF they are oriented to that spot. If you've moved it, they won't.

Part of the creation myth in my apiary is the (true) story of "The Mother" who was mated in an Apidea and moved to a nuc 20m away. First inspection and BZZZZZ. Completely disappeared. Luckily I figured out what had happened and was just in time to rescue her from the Apidea. They had set about raising their own EQ so they had started to ball her. A couple more flights and I got her home. Boy they fly.

 

[rje66]

So, assume she legged it. In the apidea there is eggs and grubs, will they raise a new queen??.

 

[Robbo8916]

So, assume she legged it. In the apidea there is eggs and grubs, will they raise a new queen??.

If she doesn't come back then yes more than likely. Just hope there is enough decent weather for her to get mated once she hatches. Never know what the next few weeks will be like after all.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

So, assume she legged it. In the apidea there is eggs and grubs, will they raise a new queen??.

They'll try, but a few hundred bees will struggle to feed the EQC adequately. I would not look to that as a replacement. Rather, depending on your setup, take a Q from a bigger colony and pop her in the Apidea. Ideally graft the QC (plus spares) but let the stronger colony raise an EQC in a pinch. You can do the old switcheroo in 5 days when the cell is sealed.

 

[birdsandbees]

I had a newly mated queen clear off with the bees from. A mating Nuc this year, I had seen her go on orientation flights then a few days later she was on mating flights, I opened them up very briefly to check and could see remnants of drone still attached to her closed up and left alone waiting in anticipation of the first eggs, within days she had gone along with the rest of the bees!

 

[beeno]

Same experience here, but they did not let her back in! QX on as soon as she lays.

 

[tonyofarr]

I had a load of bees in a Kieler mating nuc abscond the other week on that really hot day. The nuc had 'acquired' a load of extra bees from some other nearby mn's, and I did try to even up numbers but it didn't work. I decided to leave them until the vq was mated and then remove her immediately, but when I saw the forecast I knew they would go because they would get too hot. Sure enough when I got there with a bigger nuc box they had buggered off and the queen had laid a few eggs to spite me. There were only about 6 bees left. Lesson learnt (again).

 

[protheroe]

Had one fly off year before last then found her in a 5 frame nuc 20yards away which already had a new marked mated queen.they let her in for whatever reason and both were still there the following spring.

 

[Obee1]

Wary of tales of disappearing newly mated queens from apidea I removed mine after a few days and put her in a q- nuc a few miles away. Next inspection she had gone, never having laid an egg in there. The lesson I took from this is don't move the newly mated queen too soon. However beginning to wonder what really is the best way to get her heading up a colony.