apidea question

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rje66

House Bee
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Jan 28, 2013
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Location
dublin
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Last sun i placed QC and bees in box with fondant, left in shed closed up, on Wed opened up and placed outside. Wed +thur a good bit of activity around the box but today I noticed some dead bees outside entrance and not a huge amount of activity. They are just mooching about the entrance and not too much flying. Weather is windy and coolish.
Should I be worried and is it necessary to have a peek inside to see how many bees are actually still inside or just leave them to it???.
Ta
 
Last sun i placed QC and bees in box with fondant, left in shed closed up, on Wed opened up and placed outside. Wed +thur a good bit of activity around the box but today I noticed some dead bees outside entrance and not a huge amount of activity. They are just mooching about the entrance and not too much flying. Weather is windy and coolish.

My guess is some of them died while confined. I assume that you sprayed them with a little water each day so they could digest the fondant and draw comb? sometimes older bees do die so its important to only use nurse bees.
When was the queen due to emerge from its cell? She wont be sexually mature for 6 days after emergence so she will just be gathering her strength. It could be that they were just tidying up after you opened the box. They won't be eager to fly on a cool/windy day so don't worry. You could lift the outer cover if its an Apidea and make sure there are still enough bees but don't lift the clear cover as virgin queens are very skittish and she could run/fly.
 
My guess is some of them died while confined. I assume that you sprayed them with a little water each day so they could digest the fondant and draw comb? sometimes older bees do die so its important to only use nurse bees.
When was the queen due to emerge from its cell? She wont be sexually mature for 6 days after emergence so she will just be gathering her strength. It could be that they were just tidying up after you opened the box. They won't be eager to fly on a cool/windy day so don't worry. You could lift the outer cover if its an Apidea and make sure there are still enough bees but don't lift the clear cover as virgin queens are very skittish and she could run/fly.

Yes I had sprayed with water. Would they use up all the fondant that quickly?
Apidea box is the poly type ones with clear board and 3 frames.
While inside on the sun-Tue the noise from inside sounded like scratching, but still a good buzz sound. Normal?
WRT age of queen, in guessing on Sunday she was about 14 days
 
Would they use up all the fondant that quickly?
While inside on the sun-Tue the noise from inside sounded like scratching, but still a good buzz sound. Normal?
WRT age of queen, in guessing on Sunday she was about 14 days
If the food compartment was full (without any voids) there should be enough fondant to last a couple of weeks.
They will lick at the vent hole in the front for water while confined and buzz happily while drawing comb. They don't like being confined but they can't chew the apidea much. This is perfectly normal.

The queen should be about ready to mate now, so, under no circumstanes should you open the box
 
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