Have you three brood boxes? - do a "Queen Not Found" AS
Hi Ely,
You are not alone, our local queens seem part racehorse and seriously alergic to light, so we often have to do this - and in fact teach it as part of swarm control.
What you do is take advantage of their little ways with a variation on the "shake everybody into the bottom brood" by doing an alternative "queen not found" AS. It does need a bit more kit, but it is worth the reduction in hassle.
a) Set a new brood full of frames underneath the main brood on the original floor.
b) Work steadily through the original brood box frame by frame. As you check each frame of brood place it in the third brood, which is standing to one side on a new floor. The nurse bees will stay with the brood and keep them warm and you can even place a cover cloth over to keep them calm and warmer.
c) Take your time to check each frame of brood. Your queen needs plenty of time to sidle off down the side of the brood chamber into the new one below. No way do you want her staying with the brood, so take your time to check every frame in case she is running round underneath!
d) Select one frame of brood from the complete set in the new brood chamber and put it into the new brood on the original site. This is just in case the foragers really do decide to swarm! If you are truly paranoid, make sure there are some eggs in it. That way, if the queen has doubled back, the emergency queen cell will save the colony.
Remember, you only have to split one of the critical three - queen, brood and foragers. Queen and foragers is best, but queen and brood is OK provided you make sure they do not starve.
e) Place the new brood chamber, with all the brood and nurse bees well away from the old location (10 feet is good). Then you can join the debate on how many Queen cells to leave!
Please do not go beating up both yourself and the bees because you have an athletic queen, they happen
