Is there anyway of requeening with the old queen still there!

[Snail368]

I had a DLQ last year that neither I nor an expert could find (tried sieving, tried shaking 50 yards away). So divided the colony into 2 brood boxes, divided the 2 with a Queen Excluder. Left it for 3 days, than looked for half with newly laid eggs in. Moved BB with eggs (and DLQ) in to another location around 10 yards away. Introduced new queen in Butler cage to BB that didn't have eggs and put in old location. Flying bees from DLQ's brood box returned to original location and joined new queen. Finally when new queen had been accepted, shook out DLQ and workers onto ground and left them to sort themselves out.

Worked for me!

 

[psafloyd]

Talked to Uncle Alf today, who kept bees with my Grandfather from the late 1940s to the 90's, , he said use a wheel barrow at night....ok i thought it funny so asked more


at night seal up and strap up the hive to a wheel barrow then place the hive back (still on the Nasty wheel barrow in it normal position)

later that night open the entrance leave it for a week untouched on the barrow ( bee indent to the site and barrow)


on the 7th day prepare another wheel barrow hive ( Good Wheel barrow) and put in a 3 mile q+ nuc and foundation and wheel it next to the Nasty wheel barrow ( New hive thinks this is it home)u

on the 7th night, wheel the first nasty wheel barrow 6ft to the right and good wheel barrow on to the nasty site , nasty foragers (1/3 of hive say) enter the new hive

on the 15th night wheel the nasty wheel barrow 6ft to the left of the good wheel barrow (this weeks nasty foragers indented to new RHS now enter the new hive)

on the 21stnight nasty 6ft to right ( as 7th)(this weeks nasty foragers indented to new LHS now enter the new hive)

on the 28th Nasty 6ft to the left (as 15th

repeat every 7 days until only the queen and very few bees remain in the nasty then petrol the few remaining bees...

remove the wheel barrow from the new hive

no large lost of honey production, no need to open the nasty hive as it is loosing bees and will not swarm

but remember this was said in the pub by a 89 year old man after a few beers and I have never done it


pu

Love it, MM. Requeening al la AS. That should be a sticky as an alternative method for dealing with an aggressive colony.

 

[Bob Bee]

Sadly in a word no.

However you need to load the odds for finding the queen in your favour.

Take the brood box for a walk some 50 yds from the usual stand.

Remove three combs (assuming nat) to leave 8. Pair them into four, or if not that much brood, pair into three pairs. Leave alone for at least twenty minutes, and the queen will take refuge from the light in between one of the pairs.

By moving them you lose the flying bees, by pairing them you put her to a known point.

After killing her, you can then with some confidence introduce a new one.

Good luck

PH

While I realise I'm often disagreeing with PH on some basic things like hives, this is another really good post. His Easy Queen Rearing, Manipulating the spring brood box and many others are just plain well described.Thanks.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Sometimes heavy smoking makes them worse. Use your own judgement depending on how they react. And yes, move the hive to get the older bees away from you. A water sprayer may be better (or use as well) as it stops them flying.

 

[Peaches]

If the queen is hard to find, then I would place a brood box with brood (no bees) on the stand, then place a queen excluder on top of that. Then I would place the original brood box with the elusive queen in it on top of excluder. Here is where the fun begins.

Brush ALL the bees off the frames into the top brood box and remove the frames, honey, brood, and any empty frames, leaving only the bees in the top box. Close the top and wait for about 20 to 45 minutes. All the bees will go down to the brood and the queen will remain in the top box above the queen excluder. Should be easy to find.

Good luck.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Should be easy to get stung too!
Post #2 is better.

 

[Skyhook]

If the queen is hard to find, then I would place a brood box with brood (no bees) on the stand, then place a queen excluder on top of that. Then I would place the original brood box with the elusive queen in it on top of excluder. Here is where the fun begins.

Brush ALL the bees off the frames into the top brood box and remove the frames, honey, brood, and any empty frames, leaving only the bees in the top box. Close the top and wait for about 20 to 45 minutes. All the bees will go down to the brood and the queen will remain in the top box above the queen excluder. Should be easy to find.

Good luck.

Many variations on the sieving theme, this sounds quite a good one if you're well protected. I've got a nasty hive (my 'hitchcock' hive), they simply cant get to me.

 

[Dave /Oscroft]

Muswell

I loved that story about uncle Alf, are there any more like that.

Dave W

 

[Snootycat]

Blimey, everyones been very helpful. I like the idea of putting a queen excluder between them because I have a problem with lifting. Its on another thread. I am also trying to navigate the weather at the moment.
If you chuck the workers etc on the ground wont they all die?
I will also try a water sprayer. I have to really pluck up courage to go near them, but really do need to sort out the hive as its bothering me.

Pam
Pam

 

[Snootycat]

Yes, I am going to pluck up courage and try this, if I can be sure its not going to rain for an hour!