patl
New Bee
Unfortunately, I was very much at home to mr cock-up today. My plan had been do all the prep for a unite of a nuc with a small but healthy full hive. Step one, find and dispatch the queen in the nuc. Somehow, as I was going to pick her up I managed to knock her and she rolled down the frame. I'm pretty sure she fell off, but I couldn't see any evidence of her in the grass. Went through the nuc frames another couple of times and couldn't see her, but as she's unmarked, I can't guarantee she's not there. Anyway, the nuc frames are now in a full sized brood box with a queen includer underneath to stop her climbing back in if she is outside.
So, do I:
1) do the unite this evening assuming she did indeed fall off the frame, and rely on the queen excluder on the newspaper to keep the queens apart just in case she managed to stay on the frame.
2) wait a few days, check for queen cells, if they're there break them down and unite that evening. If they aren't, find the queen again, dispatch her and do the unite.
As I type this, option 2 is the only feasible one really isn't it...
So, do I:
1) do the unite this evening assuming she did indeed fall off the frame, and rely on the queen excluder on the newspaper to keep the queens apart just in case she managed to stay on the frame.
2) wait a few days, check for queen cells, if they're there break them down and unite that evening. If they aren't, find the queen again, dispatch her and do the unite.
As I type this, option 2 is the only feasible one really isn't it...
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