I keep mine in the freezer and use defrosted as required
Thanks all, I have order a new queen which should be here at the end of the month.
Why would I put the old queen in freezer, do they hibernate in the cold or do they just die?
The pheromones in a queen make a perfect attractant for swarm traps. I guess some beeks find it convenient to freeze their feisty queens but preserving them in isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) probably makes for a more convenient supply of pheromones. I havenât done either myself.
You could put her in the freezer to kill, her, it certainly would. Most people âpinchâ (squish) the queen. As @sciencemaster says, rather than throw away useful pheromones, if you keep the queen (in alcohol or just dry) in the freezer, you have a nice source.
Michael Bush has written about using âqueen juiceâ (alcohol with a queen in it) for persuading bees to stay in a hive - package bees I think. Just dab a little on the top bar of a frame or two. It should work just as well as a swarm attractant though, especially with a little lemongrass oil applied separately.
@Dee has written about using a frozen queen to locate a live queen in a hive. If you pin the dead queen to the top of a frame, within about 15-30 mins, the live queen will detect her pheromones and try to sting her to death. Pretty nifty if you have an elusive queen that you need to find!
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I put her in the freezer to store her. She is dead. She can be used as a swarm lure, squashed at the entrance of your bait hive. Another use an old timer gave me us to find a shy queen. You pin your defrosted dead queen to a top bar close up and return in fifteen minutes. The queen you are trying to find may, just may be there attacking the interloper. You canât do that with a pickled queen. It worked once for me.
Oops Dawn beat me to it. I should read all the replies
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Iâm located in Fremantle, West Australia. Weâre mid-way through our summer with lots of flowering trees and a reasonably strong âflowâ happening. I have one Flow Hive, which I started from a small, wild swarm I re-homed last October, with friendly (passive) bees. Breeding has been prolific growing from say 2000 bees to a full hive of say 20,000 bees in 10 weeks. The queen has always been elusive and Iâve only spotted her once, very briefly (8 weeks ago). Mid-December the brood box was 80% full with brood, pollen & honey so I added the honey super (which is now filling quickly, 30% capped, and a first harvest expected late Feb). Since adding the honey super the bees are no longer friendly and attack me whenever I approach the hive. I now wear full protection, always. I inspected the hive today and found six brood frames had a healthy mix of larva, pupae, capped cells, drone cells and honey, one frame of honey 30% capped and one wall-adjacent frame (exposed to afternoon sun at 80-100deg F) that looked unproductive with minimal larvae/pupae/capping and was a distinct dark grey/brown colour. Again, today, the queen wasnât sighted but the pupae/larva suggests sheâs there but possibly slowing up or not working at full capacity. Further, two frames in the brood box each had a queen cell that looked like an âemergency queen cellâ (see the photos). This suggests the colony might be preparing for a new queen. Would this explain the one unproductive frame and possibly the recent aggressiveness? Should I introduce a new waxed or foundation-less frame to replace the unproductive frame? Will time calm them down and reduce the aggressiveness? FYR robbing seems an unlikely cause of the aggressiveness given ample pollen/nectar in the surrounding area. Weâve also had a few humid days 90-100 plus deg F lately and that might be making them cranky? Can you suggest any action required?
Hi Peter, the fact that youâre able to look into the brood shows that the bees are not all that cranky:) Itâs when you canât even pull a brood frame out to inspect it, regardless of smoke, thatâs a cranky hive. The temperament of a hive can change due to a number of reasons. One being weather, if there are storms around, or threatening rain or shortly after a rain event. I believe that certain types of nectar can make them cranky, the only one I know of is Blue Gum, so I was told. Another reason for a hive changing itâs temperament, I believe could be the sperm sack being used to fertilize the eggs could be from a different drone.
Those queen cells in those photos look ok to me. However it is always a good idea to look inside queen cells just to make sure there is no activity in them. Watch out for liquid in them also. I believe that liquid could be there to entice the queen to lay in them⌠Having said that those cells look ok, I still would have looked in.
If you find the hive is preparing to swarm, itâs a good idea to split the hive to try & prevent it from swarming.
PS. donât be too concerned about the frame of honey in the brood. If the bees want the queen to lay eggs in those cells, theyâll quickly move it so she can. I see that all the time, especially coming out of winter.