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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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  • From: Meredith Friedrick <friema16 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Orange County Bees <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] Advice requested ASAP
  • Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2017 11:51:48 -0400

Hi all!
I'm starting my third year in beekeeping but feel out of my league right now.  I have one old hive (had two, but one didn't make it through winter).  My other old hive is going gangbusters.

I installed two packages late in the afternoon, last Friday and I've been feeding both ever since. The installation was unremarkable, it went along the same way as the previous two installations.  These two new hives are very close to one another, and my old hive is about twenty yards away.  Today, I opened the new hives to check on the queens.
.
Hive #1:  Very, very few bees.  Queen is still in the cage and there are lots of bees right in front of the cage, but not trying to get her out through the candy.  At least one worker inside the cage is dead and the queen is lethargic, not moving much.

Hive #2:  Chock full of bees (luckily I put a shallow super on at installation).  Queen is still in the cage and moving alot, as are her workers.  Bees are right in front of the cage, but none trying to get her out.

I cut out some of the candy on each cage.

My concerns:  Pretty obviously, I'm worried that I'll lose Hive #1. I suspect that the majority of the bees have all moved over to Hive #2 and are getting familiar with that queen.  I also worry that the bees gathered on each cage might try to kill each queen, because they are familiar with the opposite queen's pheromones.  Also, Queen #1 seems pretty weak and may die before release.  I'm concerned that due to her condition, Queen #1's pheromones may be pretty weak.

My ideas (please critique):

1.  Switch frames between hives to put more workers in Hive #1 and move the hives further apart.
2.  Let the queens alone for now, but pop the corks on them tomorrow (day 3) to release them. 

Am I on the right track?  Other ideas?

Thanks for any advice!
Meredith Friedrick




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