Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Tip:
When the Queen Escapes
If the queen flies away when you are examining your colony (and you are fortu-
nate enough to see her leave), quickly and carefully put everything back together,
but leave the inner hive cover half off and the cover completely off for an hour.
Often, the aroma of the hive will serve as the beacon she needs to help her find
her way back. Just as often, however, she won't return, and the colony will have
no queen.
The first thing bees do in their new colony is produce beeswax combs so that they have a
place to store food and raise young.
Supersedure queen cells are found on the face of this comb. The queen cell pictured here
hangs between adjacent frames.
Other factors can also elicit these behaviors. A skunk or raccoon visit the previous
evening can agitate the bees for most of the following day. A whiff of pesticide—not
enough to kill lots of bees—can cause fanning, agitation, and defensiveness for several
days. Opening the colony on a cool, rainy day or during an extreme dearth can cause
defensiveness because there are more bees than usual at home. You'll have to explore a
bit to be sure of the cause, but the sound of a short-time queenless colony is distinctive.
If the colony has been queenless for a week or longer, other behaviors emerge, such as
an egg shortage and supersedure cells—a sure sign of what's going on.
