Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Last friday I picked up 4 queens, my intent was to requeen my 4 oldest hives.

Saturday, I was working my way thru hive #1, trying to find the unmarked queen. Working my way down into the brood box, I was unable to find the queen before the bees found my ankles. So now, after 3 days unable to walk, I am at the position of having 4 queens still in delivery boxes and 4 strong hives with no idea where the old queens are.

Question 1: how long can the new queens stay in the queen holders.
Question 2: any ideas on how I can find the old queens
Question 3: in the short term could I grab a frame of covered brood/nurse bees and set the new queens up in nukes.

#1...I don't know.
#2...Open the box and watch the bees for 2 or 3 minutes. They will gather on top the frames. The heaviest gathering will normally be above the queen.
#3...That is a very good way to do it. Make a nuc and then combine with the newspaper routine. You can also make a nuc with the old queen as a back-up in case of the loss of the new one.

Queens can be kept in cages for up to 2 weeks or until the attendants die. Watch closely.

Take a deep brood box and attach a queen excluder to the bottom. Place another empty box underneath and off to one side. Shake each frame into box with QE. Place empty comb in bottom box and slide towards center. Bees will go down through Excluder onto comb. Shake all frames off and then smoke lightly driving all bees down to original comb except the queen and a few drones.
Yes this works quite nicely as you will only have a few bees to look at. Works every time I have tried it.

Do not set up nucs unless you want to work really hard. Remove the attendants from cages and bank all the queens in a hive. Queenless or queenright, it really does not matter as the nurse bees will attend to every queen without killing her. If necessary, you can always add attendants back later if so desired. Not usually necessary unless you are transporting queens somewhere else.

Kurt

great thanks both for the advice, now all i need is better ankle protection har har

Well 1 week later, and I'm down 3 queens didnt get em banked quickly enough. Chalking that $70 up to experience.

Tried the QE suggestion today, shook off all the brood frames in 3 boxes and still no queen. The hive is queen-right, lots of brood all ages. So I banked the remaining new queen and put an excluder between the two boxes with most brood. Hopefully that will give me a clue where she is.

Any other suggestions guys? (better shoes definately a big help this time)

Sorry about the queens.
Just a note: The curtis's in Graham charge $12 per queen when you pick them up. Mine was marked as well.
Ski

I am sorry too! I know it is not easy to lose those girls.
No additional thoughts other than perhaps you need someone else to help find the queens. It never hurts to have another pair of eyes.

Kurt