# Can you trick a queen in an OBH hive to lay lots of brood during the winter?



## ruthiesbees

I lost a nuc this weekend, probably due to starvation if the numerous bee butts sticking out of the comb were any indication. Anyway, the queen is a special one and she was fine so I snatched her up in a queen clip. Pulled a bar of bees and 2 combs from my great big hive. One comb was totally full of uncapped nectar, the other I made sure was empty, but had brood in it at one time, so I know it's the right size cells (foundationless topbar hive where comb varies based on usage).

Put the 2 combs with worker bees in my 2 bar display hive and introduced the queen. She's out and walking around. Added a small pollen patty because there is no pollen in the comb I pulled. There is also no open space to lay in the one comb, but of course that's the one the bees are all over. I had hoped that the queen would migrate down to the 2nd comb and begin laying eggs in the wide open comb. I'm also not feeding syrup yet as I need them to eat some of the honey out of the cells in the top comb so the queen will start laying up there in case she doesn't like the bottom empty comb.

Not quite sure how I plan to keep these all winter since the hubby won't let me do the exit tube through the window trick. (looking to see if work will let me park them there for the winter). Keeping the hive temperature up is not an issue (I know they will burn through the food by being warmer). I'm just looking to see if anyone has any tricks to make the queen think it's the start of spring instead of going into winter.

I've read that the queen starts slowing down when the days get shorter. Not sure how she knows that since she's not really exposed to the daylight outside the hive. (maybe the workers tell her by a dance). For those with indoor OB hives, does your queen slow down in the fall or does she keep a larger patch of brood than your outside hive does? I've had bees inside for about 10 days last winter, and I know the OB hive is really hard on a colony. I'm most interested in getting the queen through to next spring where I can use her for an early spring split. I just don't necessarily want to make a split of my big hive at this time of the year.


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## RayMarler

Maybe you can fool them into thinking it is spring...

Set a light on a timer to give 13-14 hours of "sunlight" a day, shining on the entrance. This might get them thinking it's closer to late spring/summer time and start laying better.


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## RobWok

There is probably more to it than light there. It works for chickens, and the honeybee workers do come out at first light, but I don't know if that will work for bees. I personally have had an observation hive for many years. The bigger trick there is to keep the queen stocked with enough pollen. I've had it die out when the pollen stores were exhausted. The other nasty thing that happens is that it's warm in the observation hive, so they head out for cleansing flights like normal, then die. We once had a super cold morning, and when i went out, there were dead bee bodies all over the place in the snow. I haven't had the chance to run several observation hives and test out different methods (like screening them in on days below freezing). I'd love to have them build up in December, but they might have to do so entirely on pollen patties.

Rob


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## ruthiesbees

I have real bee pollen in the freezer. I'm considering packing that into the empty comb and pouring their honey into the top rows of cells just like I see in a regular hive outside to see if that is what the queen bee is waiting for before she starts to lay eggs. The bees right now in the hive are not really feeding on the pollen patty that is in there and are just lined up straight on the comb about 3 bees deep. I'm assuming it's to keep the queen warm (although it's 70 degrees in the house and they get sandwiched between 1" foam on either side when I'm not watching them). I'll have to let them "out" tomorrow afternoon for a cleansing flight or I'm gonna have a disease problem. I can't leave the hive open for too long outside or my big hive will rob them blind, even with a tiny entrance hole.

Keep the ideas and observations coming :lookout:


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## ruthiesbees

Just an update on this display hive that's had bees cooped up in it for a few days. My husband called me at work today to say "your bees are out in the house!". Somehow some of the smaller bees found a way to wriggle out of one of the air holes of the hive. Left work early to deal with them while it was daylight and collected about 25 of them scattered around in the house. Never had that happen before but I remember moving the cleat that holds the topbars to a lower rung. Apparently the screw hole was just wide enough for the small cell bees to make their exit.

The comb of bees is now back outside in a nuc box with 3 more bars of other bees working on a newspaper combine. The bees in the display hive were all running around like crazy when I opened them up to pull the bar with the queen over to the nuc. I was worried 1. that they would return to the hive in the front yard where they came from on Sunday and 2. That they wouldn't know where their queen went.

I had read that a queen that flies away from a hive will orient on the beekeeper so as the worker bees swirled around me, I just stood there. I placed my hand on the nuc box where the queen was at and they started landing on my glove and walking down into the nuc. Once the girls started fanning at the entrance, the whole cloud of bees moved over that direction. Truly a very wonderful experience. Bees are amazing.


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## bevy's honeybees

That is very cool!


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## Michael Bush

A more accurate statement would be that the workers slow the queen down when the days get shorter. The queen lays anywhere she can find to lay. The workers put nectar or honey in the cells to stop her.


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