New Queen Swi Bine help needed

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MrTrueman

House Bee
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
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Location
North Derbyshire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2
Ok, I have newly emerged queen in coffee jar (Grizzly style) Swi Bine at the ready, I have sent the other half out to pickup some fondant.

Can I just stick her in there with a cup of nurse bee and leave in the dark for a while or would I need to cage her etc? I ask this because I dont have a cage :(

Can someone spoon feed me what I need to do?
 
Hi MrTrueman

If I were in your situation I would wait until evening and 'sugar dust' the six centre frames and all bees on them. Then I would introduce the queen on top of the frames and let her go.

Check in the morning to see if she is still alive. In my opinion she should be OK.

Hope that helps.

Regards;

Have I read right that you have a colony QL? and whats a Swi Bine when its out?
 
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Hi MrTrueman

Have I read right that you have a colony QL? and whats a Swi Bine when its out?

Hi,

No its a mating nuc:
http://www.buzzybeeshop.co.uk/page3/page2/mating nuclei.html

My Queenless colony sneaked a emergency QC past me and that hatched yesterday. So today I have gone and cut out the cell I was intending them to have. I put this cell in a coffee jar and it hatch about 30minutes later...very good to watch!

Anyhow I have got this mating nuc and want to put her in there in case the emergency Queen they have hatched is a no go, a bit of an insurance policy.

I have heard that you are advised to leave the nurse bees in the mating nuc for a day before but I am a bit worried about the new queen in the coffee jar!
 
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sorry to ask, but what is 'Grizzly style' too ?

Jez
 
Now I am confused:confused:

You say they are in a mating Nuc. Right got that.
You say they have an emergency queen cell in this Nuc that has hatched.
Yes/No.

Your QL colony now has a virgin? Yes.

Put the queen into the Nuc, if things do not turn out ok in the hive then introduce the queen from the Nuc into the hive.

Please put the queen in with other bees after 'sugar dusting'.

Regards;
 
sorry to ask, but what is 'Grizzly style' too ?

Jez

Here:
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1034&highlight=Grizzly

:D

Anyhow I have now got a plan!
I am going to charge my mini nuc with a cup of nurse bees from a super of my largest hive and then leave for a night in a cool dark place.

Then I am going to put 'HM Coffee jar' in a cage in a super of a hive so the bees can fed her up, because she is really not looking very happy about the whole coffee jar birth experience!

Does this sound ok peeps?
 
I have heard that you are advised to leave the nurse bees in the mating nuc for a day QUOTE]


Not done this but I have read you leave them for one hour before adding the queen, I assume you dont just throw her in mind.

Jez
 
Mr Trueman

I would do the following:

Stock the swibine with a cupful of damp bees and some candy as you normally would.

Put them in a cool dark place for 3 hours or so. This will encourage them to cluster, and will give them time to realise that they are queenless. A cellar is far better than just in the shade.

Bump the thing on the ground so that the bees fall to the bottom and chuch the virgin in, or run her in the entrance.

Leave in the cool dark place for a day or two. open at dusk/dark.

It should work that way.

Alternatively, in the field, I have just chucked her in with a cupful of damp bees, all at the same time. I would prefer to do the former, but the latter will work too.
 
Grizzly style,forum member Grizzly had a cell in a jar.

Put cup of young bee's in swi-bine,leave for a few hours,3 is fine,run in your virgin queen,place swi-bine in COOL DARK place for two or three days,take out last thing in the evening to the site where you intend to place the nuc,open entrance and leave well alone for 12/14 days,then carefully inspect for eggs,if queen mated,then queen exclude entrance and wait until brood is sealed,if okay,remove queen to five frame nuc as soon as possible.add ripe cell to nuc,destroying any cells the bee's have started.
Sorry Marc,writing same time as you.
 
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In my opinion your messing around when the queen needs to be in with a Nuc or a hive. The queen is becoming distressed.

Regards;
 
Hivemaker

What's a swi-bine?

Another cryptic name for a mating Nuc?

Regards;
 
Thank you everyone! :cheers2:

Hivemaker/Marcros, no need to cage her in then, just let her walk in yeah?
 
yes,no need to cage her,but you need to get her in there soon,she will soon die,if not kept warm and fed.
 
Hivemaker

Thank you.

Regards;
 
Standard practice for introducing virgin queens into mini nucs in my local breeding group is to pop the wet queen into the mini nuc and then dump the cupful of wet bees in on top of her. However this is done on a fairly large scale and success rate is about 70%, so with your one queen you might be unlucky. Introducing virgins is always trickier than cells or mated queens.
 
just co2 the bee's for around ten seconds,they are out cold,then pop the virgin in while they are asleep.
 

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