# Cutouts leaving.



## FairWeather (Jan 28, 2016)

I performed a cutout last week. Very large hive but not a ton of bees. I kept 8 frames of broodcomb, some with open brood. Found and caged the queen. Moved them home and released queen next morning. Within 5 hours they had completely absconded. This is the third time out of five that a cutout just up and left on me. Any suggestions for keeping them in the box? I do cutouts gratis but it's a lot of work for naught when they just leave. Thanks!


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## FairWeather (Jan 28, 2016)




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## frustrateddrone (Jan 31, 2015)

Lock them in up to 3 days. For some reason that pretty much puts them in "HOME" mode. Of coarse you need to water them and have a source of food and cooling airflow. A wet sponge works for water. Something that works for bees to be locked in is to plug it with polyester batting like that of filter floss for aquarium/ pond. It allows it to breathe. Screen mesh works too. Keep them cool due to not allowing the typical airflow that they'd have with opened up entrance.


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## FairWeather (Jan 28, 2016)

Appreciate it. I'll try that next go round. I know this isn't the ideal time to move bees, but it was kinda now or never.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Charge for your time, will hurt less when they leave. I would just keep the queen caged longer too, let them release her with a standard candy plug in a few days. If you have other hives, give them a frame of open brood.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Might consider clipping a wing on the queen next time. Have never done that.
Don't think I've had a cutout abscond either. 
Could you give some more detail about what you're doing and not doing? 
Maybe a picture of your bee-vac etc?


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## FairWeather (Jan 28, 2016)

Let's see...I didn't use a vac on this one. The number of bees was manageable so I just removed most of the comb, leaving 2 chunks of brood comb. During comb removal I took the best looking brood comb, some of which had open brood in it, and rubber-banded it into frames. Those went into my box. By the time I got down to a couple pieces of comb remaining I could see the bees clustered heavily in one spot. I shook them onto a frame and located the queen. Put her in a queen clip inside the box and the bees marched right in. Waited till dusk and took them home. I blocked up the entrance really well and the next morning released the queen into the box. She ran right down in there. Came back later that day and they were all gone. They even left open brood. I planned on feeding them as they were very light on stores, but didn't put anything in right away, perhaps I should have. I'm sure they won't make it now. I'm not sure how else to comment on what I'm not doing.

JRG13 - Yes, I plan on charging from now on. At least a little.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Plan on 80-100 per hour with most taking 4-5 hrs. 
What worked well for me for over 6 years with keeping bees to stay is cage the queen for 3 days. As soon as you get to the apiary, let them loose. Leave the bees alone until the queen is released. Leave them bee again for at least a week. 
My guess is that being locked up for the first time ever made the bees fly the coop. Especially when the queen was just released. Perfect storm actually. 
I imagine if you were locked up for any length of time you would bust out given the first chance and take the wife and kids with you! lol
Same with bees.


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## wadehump (Sep 30, 2007)

Don't lock them in heat can kill. Use a queen excluder under the brood box for a few days until queenie has started to lay


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## oldsap (May 1, 2016)

We use a standard queen cage with candy or marshmellow plug, but a queen introduction cage should work equally well.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

FairWeather said:


> I performed a cutout last week. Very large hive but not a ton of bees. I kept 8 frames of broodcomb, some with open brood. !


Do you think you had enough bees to take care of the 8 frames of brood comb that you saved? If not, could that be the reason?? I never liked to keep more than 3 frames of brood/brood comb from a cutout, unless I made multiple colonies. The more comb saved, the more work they have to do to clean up, knit together, tend brood, clean new box etc. I always thought if it overwhelmed them, they would leave and make a new start.

cchoganjr


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## sapperxl (Feb 14, 2016)

I wouldn't cut out that much brood comb. I usually limit myself to 3-4 medium frames of brood comb, my operation is all mediums due to multiple herniated disks. I mainly do that because the bees I do cutouts on here in southeast Texas are infested with SHB. Always make sure that the brood comb is dry, if you get honey on it, don't use it. Also if the brood stays without bees to cover it too long the brood can die. A hive full of dead brood will for sure make them abscond. What I normally do is I cage the queen for transport back to my apiary so I don't have to worry about her getting smashed or anything. The next day I release the queen, but I put a queen excluder under the hive on top of the bottom board. I leave that in place for 5-7 days. Also I usually try to give them a mixed frame from one of my hives. Something with eggs, larva and capped brood if I can find it. Even just some empty drawn comb if I don't have a comb of brood for them. Helps them want to stay in the hive. I've heard some people say not to feed a cut out in the first week or so but I always start them right off with a top feeder and it works for me. That's what works for me.


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