# Shutting in a cut out



## BackYardPhenomena (Jul 11, 2012)

I have had some bad luck with cut outs absconding. I did one Friday and picked it up last night. They were in the box and I sealed them up and brought them home. I was thinking about putting a miller feeder on top and keeping them shut in for a few days. Maybe increase my chances of success?


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Wouldn't hurt just as long as they have ventillation. A QE under the bottom super works well for a few days too.


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## robherc (Mar 17, 2012)

Hmmm...can you give us any more info about the abscondings? Did you inspect the hives after? Were there RIFA, SHB, WM? I only had one cut-out abscond on me without SOME sort of infestation (RIFA and SHB are horrible for that) last year & it was a newly "moved-in" swarm with only about 2-3 days worth of comb built; maybe there's some underlying cause for the abscondings that isn't readily apparent?


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## R Dewhurst (Dec 22, 2012)

something tells me the queen may have not been there. I got the queen on my cut out with the bee vac as soon as I seen her. Had the entrance shut with screen. There were bees on the entrance trying to get in all the way to the bee yard...the next day going 55 mph for 30 miles. They would not let go for nothing. They set up shop in a week and had comb rebuilt to frames they were banded to.


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## BackYardPhenomena (Jul 11, 2012)

I've caught a queen only once during a cut out and even then they absconded. Major robbing with that one, they went in and killed her when she was in the cage. Other than that I've had mixed results. Some time they stick around for a few days and take off and sometimes not at all.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

BYP, I had one cutout kill the queen in the cage I had her in as well. They must have been really upset to do that. I now went back to the good old standby wooden queen cage. They can't kill her in the ones with screen on one side. She has plenty of room to hide until the bees return to normal. Then... I let her out. Those queen clips are for the birds. lol


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