Bait Hive & Dead Queen as Attractant

[Spikedog]

Has any member heard of the practice of placing a dead queen into a bait hive as an attractant (Pheromone)? I have vague recollection of reading/hearing of same…Perhaps a confused memory as intuitively feels wrong. Have a relatively fresh Q cadaver and could freeze for future use.

 

[Kenson]

Yes, I've heard of it, but cannot comment on the efficacy, because none of my (one) queens has died yet

I think (hope)

I have also heard of putting them in alcohol, I imagine this means "surgical alcohol" as it has little smell of it's own, and using this, probably storing many queens over years this way, extracts the perfume and makes quite strong "queen smell", again, I can't say if it works.

Lemon grass oil and foundation worked (once) last year, hence I have a small colony

 

[drex]

I pickle all my dead queens in alcohol. A few drops of that and an old frame have yet to fail.
Lemon grass also worked well in the past. Site is the most important thing though I believe. One shed roof never fails. Another, no such luck yet

 

[Finman]

Yes, I've heard of it, but cannot comment on the efficacy, because none of my (one) queens has died

It means that you do not change actively your queens?

I change every year almost all my queens and I squeeze old queens (1-2 y).

And I kill bad queens from nucs during first summer.

.

 

[oliver90owner]

One shed roof never fails. Another, no such luck yet

So, have you checked for local ley lines? That is likely the reason for the more popular choice.

 

[sean-a]

So, have you checked for local ley lines?

How do you check this?
I am quite interested in whether this works.
I was taking to a Spanish bee keeper a few years ago about this and he was convinced that this was a factor. He had several hundred hives.

 

[Finman]

How do you check this?
.

Feeling in gut.

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