putting a mated queen into apedia

[JohnRoss]

Hi all,
I will be uniting some hives in the coming week but I was wanting to keep some of the mated and laying quees in reserve just incase they come in handy later in the season. Just wondering if anyone has any experiance of putting a mated queen into an apedia from a brood box with bees on 8 frames. are there any major issues I should know about?

 

[Heather]

If you want to use an apidea to accept a mated queen, shake a good mug full of house bees into the apidea that has drawn comb, close it up, leave in a cool place for 2 days.
Soon they will be 'roaring' as Queenless. Introduce that queen through the little aperture on top of the apidea after those 2 days. They should accept and get cracking. Maybe a little feed in the end unit.
If keeping the queen separate in the meantime.. in a queen cage, with some fondant and 3-4 bees- and in a warm place. I usually pop it on a damp paper towel too so they have moisture.

 

[Suzi Q]

You could use bees from the same hive you are taking the queen from to make up the apidea. Fill up the apidea and let her run down through the hole in the plastic crownboard. No need to shut them in for 2 days then? If there is drawn comb and some fondant in the feeder, with the exc, then she should continue laying.

 

[Teemore]

Rather than an apidea, I'd recommend putting a laying queen into a nuc with the frame she is on (including bees) and another frame of BIAS and bees, a frame of stores and make up the rest with drawn comb if you have it. You can keep them in the Nuc longer than an apidea and if the Nuc is building up too quickly, you can transplant frames of brood into one of your full hives.
Even with a full complement of frames, an apidea has little room for an already mated and laying queen to use and she will rapidly run out of space. This can lead to swarming or absconding although the QX piece for the front door helps manage this.

 

[pre1mjr]

How do you get the apidea comb drawn? Or is fine to use foundation if that's all you have?

 

[JohnRoss]

Hi all, thanks for the advice.

Maybe I will take teemores advice and put her in a nuc instead. Part of the reason I am uniting is lack of equipment. I have caught a few swarms this year and have done some AS's so now all my equipment including nuc boxes are full. I might just buy some more equipment.