# Should I screen the entrance of my split??



## uberhausen (Jul 21, 2012)

Hey all,
I just made a split from a very strong hive. I tried this about 2-months ago but by the end of the day,all of the bees had drifted back to the original hive and I was left with only a few nurse bees and a queen that didn't quite make it. I ordered a new queen from Beeweaver and put together a nice little split of about 3 frames of brood/larvae, honey and some pollen. I have read somewhere that you can screen off the entrance of the new hive for about 24-hours to allow the bees to accept the phermones of the new queen. Is this true?Will this avoid the dreaded drift? I was going to come home tomorrow and remove the screen from the entrance and put the entrance reducer on to the 4" setting until they establish themselves a bit better.
Any help or suggestions are GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It's summer. You are in Texas. I would not confine bees in the heat. Shake in extra bees. Shake in enough bees that there are twice as many in the new location as you think you need. Half of them will drift back. If you find the queen in the process, put the queen in the new location. This will also help anchor some of the bees there. Make sure the new location has open brood to anchor them as well.


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