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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers
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- From: Matthew Yearout <yearout AT gmail.com>
- To: "<ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>" <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>, durham-county-beekeepers <durham-county-beekeepers AT googlegroups.com>
- Subject: [ocba] Available queen… Oddly enough
- Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 13:27:03 -0500
During an inspection today I found the strangest thing. One hive had only 10 bees, 2 queens and a mouse. Last month I did notice the new queen, and that there were less bees. I assumed a late season swarm. But today there was a sad little cluster of bees around the old marked queen (in truth I had forgotten I marked her). Not knowing what to do I placed her in a queen cage. I started pulling frames to look for clues, and there in the bottom of the hive sat another queen... and a mouse! I grabbed the second queen up and caged her too. I have no idea what to make this.
I placed one of the queens in a strong hive with a rather nasty queen, whom I had planned on replacing anyway. Using a double screen, I essentially split the hive. I hope to go back and spring and pinch the old queen. Also, I did not break up the brood nest, which was solidly in the bottom, the configuration is one deep and one medium. I'll have to shuffle some things around next week when I check on the new queen.
I still have one remaining queen, she's free for the taking.
Thoughts, advice, recommended reading. I'm completely baffled.
Best,
Matthew
Ps, the mouse has been safely relocated and shall live on to torment another apiary, another day.
- [ocba] Available queen… Oddly enough, Matthew Yearout, 12/18/2015
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