- Joined
- Jul 10, 2014
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Surrey, Camberley
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 4
Hi everyone,
Would be really grateful for your views on whether my plans are mad, stupid or may just have a feint chance of success please! Situation is this:
We have a queenless hive. The bees were very aggressive and so we removed the queen on 27 May and subsequently put in a frame of brood from a friendly hive, letting two queen cells reach maturity. I am pretty sure the queen hatched as I heard piping, but there is now definitely no queen and no brood. (Test frame has been added.)
So, I would like to unite a collected swarm of gentle, healthy bees, with laying queen, which I've had for about a month with this hive, now nicknamed 'angry' by the whole family! The gentle hive is currently located about 10 metres from the 'angry' hive. My plan is to put the queenright brood box on the floor, add newspaper and QE, then 'angry' brood box above. I also have some lemongrass oil and may add a few drops. However, I would ideally like to locate the united hive in 'angry's' location, but am concerned that the gentle hive's flying bees will not find there way to their new home.
My other concern is that the 'angry' bees, outnumber the gentle bees. Is this likely to cause a problem in uniting them?
Any advice or tips would be very welcome! Thanks so much for your help!!
Beverly
Would be really grateful for your views on whether my plans are mad, stupid or may just have a feint chance of success please! Situation is this:
We have a queenless hive. The bees were very aggressive and so we removed the queen on 27 May and subsequently put in a frame of brood from a friendly hive, letting two queen cells reach maturity. I am pretty sure the queen hatched as I heard piping, but there is now definitely no queen and no brood. (Test frame has been added.)
So, I would like to unite a collected swarm of gentle, healthy bees, with laying queen, which I've had for about a month with this hive, now nicknamed 'angry' by the whole family! The gentle hive is currently located about 10 metres from the 'angry' hive. My plan is to put the queenright brood box on the floor, add newspaper and QE, then 'angry' brood box above. I also have some lemongrass oil and may add a few drops. However, I would ideally like to locate the united hive in 'angry's' location, but am concerned that the gentle hive's flying bees will not find there way to their new home.
My other concern is that the 'angry' bees, outnumber the gentle bees. Is this likely to cause a problem in uniting them?
Any advice or tips would be very welcome! Thanks so much for your help!!
Beverly