# Hive Split



## shawbran (May 5, 2012)

I split a hive Monday night due to the weather that we were expecting. I had ordered a queen and it go delayed finally showing up Today. What am I going to encounter in introducing the new queen to the hive tonight after being queenless for about thee days? What do I need to do for acceptance. Should I let put a hole in the candy or just let them slowly eat it out.


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## mharrell11 (Mar 18, 2014)

I introduced a new queen to a hive last week(Tuesday the 12th). All I did was removed the cap over the candy plug and put the queen cage between 2 frames. I did not mess with the candy. I just let the bees in the hive eat through the candy and let the queen out. On Sunday the 24th I went back for my inspection and she was released. Found her on one of the frames. It generally takes about 2 days for them to eat through the candy. This gives them time to get used to her pheromones and accept her. Release her too early and they may kill her.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

With a split that has been queenless for 3 days there will be queen cells started. As long as the colony has cells the bees will kill any introduced queen. You will have to find and cut out all started queen cells. You may have to do this several times until the colony no longer has eggs/larvae that they can make into a queen.

When you search the frames from the colony for cells, remove frames from the brood chamber and shake the adult bees from the frames into the brood chamber. If you search with all of the bees on the comb it is very easy to miss a cell. After you cut the cells out, put the caged queen in with the candy hole covered. Check in 24 to 48 hours to see if the bees are aggressive toward the queen. If they do show aggression check again for cells. If they do not show aggression, uncover the candy and let the bees chew her out. It helps acceptance if you feed if you are not in a nectar flow. It also helps speed up the acceptance process if you remove the attendants from the cage before you place it in the colony, but they will eventually accept the queen with attendants.


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## shawbran (May 5, 2012)

So I taped the candy and placed her in the hive after cutting out any cells. Immediately the bees started fanning when they found her. Is this good or bad?


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

That shows they are aware of a queen in the hive, what the bees do on the screen of the cage shows how their acceptance of her is. If the bees cling tightly to the cage with their mandibles, and some are curving their body in a stinging position, is an indication they do not accept her and will kill her if they can. Move your finger back and forth along the face of the screen and see if the bees move aside or if they cling. If they easily move aside they are not aggressive toward the queen. If they easily move aside you can expose the candy and let them eat into the cage and release the queen. But if any are clinging tightly, wait 24-48 more hours and check/cut cells and check the cage again for aggression being shown.

Very often beekeepers will place a caged queen in a hive that has a virgin in it. They wait a week and come back to remove the cage and see a queen, naturally they think she is the one they have installed, when actually their purchased queen has been killed and the active queen is one produced by the colony. There is an old saying among beekeepers, never install a marked queen or your acceptance rate will fall drastically!


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