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B. Weaver Apiaries :: FAQs
Make sure your hive does not have a queen. Remove the cork from the candy end of the queen cage. Wedge the queen cage between two of the center frames with the screen on the cage exposed downward toward the bottom of the hive so that the bees can access the queen through the screen. The bees must also have access to the hole in the candy end of the cage. Be sure the candy end of the cage is slightly lower than the area of the cage occupied by the queen. Take care to make certain that the queen cage is securely embedded in wax. If the cage falls to the bottom of the hive the queen may not survive. The queen must be placed in the part of the hive where the bees are clustered. Close the hive and wait one week before opening it. After one week open the hive. The queen should be out of her cage and she should have eggs laid in one or two of the combs. If she is not out of the cage, release her by taking the screen off.
Hives that have been queenless so long that all of the brood has hatched out do not accept queens very well. If possible, such a hive should be given one or two combs with brood in them from another colony before introducing the new queen.
When you are re-queening, you may install the new queen immediately after killing the old one or you may wait as long as four or five days before installing the new queen.
To increase the chances of the new queen being accepted into your hive you may choose to smear wax, honey, and/or propolis onto the screen of the queen cage from the hive you are installing her into. The queen will walk on the hive products and smell more like a hive member than a stranger when she is released.
- Courtesy of Laura Weaver
Have your hive ready before the package bees arrive. Be sure the hive has been provided with honey or sugar syrup for feed. The entrance of the hive should be reduced to a width of about 2 inches by stuffing grass or newspaper into the entrance slot. Do not close the entrance completely because the bees might smother.
Take the cover off the package, remove the feed can, and remove the queen cage. This procedure is made easier by prying the can up with a hive tool, then gently banging the package down on the ground to dislodge the bees from the can and the queen cage. Look in the queen cage to make sure the queen is alive. If the queen is dead, telephone us immediately for a replacement. Remove the cork from the candy end of the queen cage and hang the queen cage, candy end down, between two of the center frames in your hive. The bees must have access to the screen on the queen cage. At this point, you may remove four of the outside frames and set the package of bees into the hive with queen and can removed, then cover the hive and allow the bees to crawl out.
Another method is to turn the shipping cage bottom up, over the hive and shake the bees into the hive making sure some of them fall between the frames where the queen cage is hung. Cover the hive and do not disturb it for at least a week. After one week the queen should be out of her cage and should have eggs laid in one or two combs. If you have started the hive on foundation only, the bees should be drawing out two or three sheets of the foundation. Starvation of the bees is the biggest hazard to successful establishment of the package of bees. Continue to feed them, taking care not to get robbing started, until you are sure the bees are producing enough honey to maintain themselves.
- Courtesy of Laura Weaver
This year we are working to haul packages to states and leave them for pick up or ship them from the customers state. We will not be going to CA, OR, WA, AZ, UT, NV, ID, MT, GA, FL, SC, AL (distance and there are so many CA, GA, AL, FL producers). I would love to sell you the bees but I feel the chance of a live arrival for the shipment is very low. I suggest you order your bees from a local producer (ie: www.koehnen.com in CA or www.gabees.com in GA) and then requeen with our queens (we can ship them UPS next and 2nd day air) to get the hardiness/disease resistance our bees offer. This may turn out to be less expensive and you will have live bees b/c they did not have to travel so far. USPS used to do a good job for us---but no longer, and our UPS facility (Houston) will not take package bees.
- Courtesy of Laura Weaver
We are selecting the best BeeSMaRt colonies to be our All Star and Buckfast drone mothers (not all, but a significant portion). We feel the crosses will increase disease/varroa resistance overall and not effect the honey production that the BeeSMaRts had traditionally lacked but recently improved on. So a portion of the daughters of 2008 queens will be BeeSMaRt, whether you order All Star or Buckfast.
- Courtesy of Laura Weaver
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