taff..
Field Bee
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2008
- Messages
- 796
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- By that there Forest
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 4
thats the short version
the slightly longer version.......
I had a nuc that had dwindled down to bugger all, the queen had been laying but no brood had survived, today there was about 150 bees in there. but I had a plan......
someone mentioned that they had sugar icing dusted bees and shaken them into a weak nuc to boost them with success, so I thought s*!t or bust, I'll give them more bees and see what happens.
before starting I found the queen in the donor hive and popped her into a butler cage to make sure she didn't land up in the nuc, then took a frame of bees, gentle shake to dislodge the older bees, sugar dusting then shake into the nuc, and then repeat with another frame.
we then closed up the nuc to let them get on with it, they didn't appear to be fighting so all good so far.
we went back to the donor hive, pulled out a frame of brood to release the queen onto the middle of it, pulled out the bung on the butler cage and the queen rolled out, landed on the frame then rolled down onto the OMF
I've read recently that others have had similar experience with the queen playing dead in shock or whatever, so we closed up and left them for half an hour.
when we opened up again she was in exactly the same position with the bees seeming to be pulling at her. we retrieved her off the floor and found she had one antennae missing, half of a front leg missing and her wings were pretty ragged.
so I had to cash in my insurance policy.... the queen in the nuc.
she's now in the butler cage with a candy plug thats a good inch long in what was the donor hive, I just need a bit of good fortune that she's accepted.
the bees fighting in the nuc was a possibility that I was aware may happen but it hadn't occurred to me that the other queen may peg it
the slightly longer version.......
I had a nuc that had dwindled down to bugger all, the queen had been laying but no brood had survived, today there was about 150 bees in there. but I had a plan......
someone mentioned that they had sugar icing dusted bees and shaken them into a weak nuc to boost them with success, so I thought s*!t or bust, I'll give them more bees and see what happens.
before starting I found the queen in the donor hive and popped her into a butler cage to make sure she didn't land up in the nuc, then took a frame of bees, gentle shake to dislodge the older bees, sugar dusting then shake into the nuc, and then repeat with another frame.
we then closed up the nuc to let them get on with it, they didn't appear to be fighting so all good so far.
we went back to the donor hive, pulled out a frame of brood to release the queen onto the middle of it, pulled out the bung on the butler cage and the queen rolled out, landed on the frame then rolled down onto the OMF
I've read recently that others have had similar experience with the queen playing dead in shock or whatever, so we closed up and left them for half an hour.
when we opened up again she was in exactly the same position with the bees seeming to be pulling at her. we retrieved her off the floor and found she had one antennae missing, half of a front leg missing and her wings were pretty ragged.
so I had to cash in my insurance policy.... the queen in the nuc.
she's now in the butler cage with a candy plug thats a good inch long in what was the donor hive, I just need a bit of good fortune that she's accepted.
the bees fighting in the nuc was a possibility that I was aware may happen but it hadn't occurred to me that the other queen may peg it