MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

178 DR. miller'sfinding the queen, it is generally as well to close the hive till anhour or two later, or till another day.Q. I sent for a queen the past summer. I took all the framesout of the hive, but I could not find the old queen, so I put thenew queen in and they killed her. How can I use a queen-trapto find her?A. Fasten your trap at the entrance of the old hive. Lift outall the frames with adhering bees, and put them in an emptybody close by. After all the frames are taken out of the hive,make sure that the qtieen is not in it, if necessary brushing allthe remaining bees out of the hive upon the combs. Now lift oneof the combs, shake and brush all the bees from it upon theground in front of the old hive, and as soon as you have all thebees ofi: the comb put the comb in the old hive. Proceed with allthe combs in the same way, brushing all the bees in front of thetrapped entrance, and putting the brushed combs into the oldhive. The bees will crawl into the hive through the trap, andMadam Queen will be found trying to get in the same place.Q. What is the best way to find and catch the queen in a boxhive?A. Drum the bees out, put them in a movable-frame hive witha frame of brood in it, give the bees time to settle, and then lookon the frame of brood for the queen. Or, you may sift out thequeen with an excluder. Usually if you shake the bees in frontof the hive you will see the queen running toward the entrance.Queen Introduction.—Q. Can I introduce new queens at anytime, and how will I have to proceed?A. Yes, you can introduce queens any time, so long as theweather is warm. The proceeding is the same as at any othertime, but introducing is not always so successful in a dearth aswhen honey is coming in freely.Q. Could I safely introduce a new queen to a swarm hangingto a limb, by killing their queen and placing the new queen onthe cluster of bees?A. It might succeed, sometimes.Q. Is it any safer to introduce queens to one or two-framenuclei in place of a four-frame or a colony of bees?A. Perhaps there is no difference, but if there is any differenceit is safer to introduce to the weaker.Q. What difiference, if any, is there in acceptance of a queenin a colony that has been queenless for some time (no laying