Bees camping in the Apidea feeder

[Andy]

I just checked my Apideas for feed and noticed that one colony had 90% of the bees in the feeder. It had a queen emerge from a QC last Thursday as I pulled it out to check. During the last check a few days ago the usual couple of bees seemed to be feeding.

However, reading Daniel Basterfields book Using Apideas he mentions that bees clustering in the feeder is a sign of failed emergence.

What's peoples experience in these matters? Could the queen have snuck into the feeder (fondant luckily) when I checked the other day and the bees are with her? Or am I just out of luck and have lost the queen? Or something else?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

They do sometimes do that and I don't disagree with Dan. Sometimes they come good though. If you have several apideas on the go, having some brood in the body of the apidea keeps the bees there as they will tend to the brood, so the queencell (or queen) won't get cold if in the same space as the brood..