Re-introducing old Queen back into hive

[BernardBlack]

New Queen introduced last week obviously killed.

A few wasps are starting to get into the Nuc with the old Queen.

I need to re-introduce old Queen back into hive.

What’s the best way to do that? Put her into cage? Or put the frame she’s on straight back into hive?

 

[masterBK]

How do you know new queen obviously killed? Have you found her body? Assuming colony now queenless and because you also have to think what to do about the bees in the nuc, I would unite the nucleus plus queen back to original colony.

 

[BernardBlack]

How do you know new queen obviously killed? Have you found her body? Assuming colony now queenless and because you also have to think what to do about the bees in the nuc, I would unite the nucleus plus queen back to original colony.

Had a good look, but no sign. Queen cells there too, assuming started from the eggs of old Queen.

Yeah that was my thinking. Hive/Nuc are problems (queenless/wasps), so uniting and re-introducing old Queen was my thinking.

Just wondered if I should cage her or not.

 

[masterBK]

I only cage when uniting if the other colony is known to be somewhat "defensive" (as they take longer to release her from a cage with fondant than it takes to bite through the newspaper (Yorkshire Post or Financial times!) With very stroppy bees I might even leave the TAB closed for a day)

 

[BernardBlack]

I only cage when uniting if the other colony is known to be somewhat "defensive" (as they take longer to release her from a cage with fondant than it takes to bite through the newspaper (Yorkshire Post or Financial times!) With very stroppy bees I might even leave the TAB closed for a day)

I think that was what happened with the introduction