A queen bee came my way this afternoon - no, not the opening line to some old gag, but a spare queen had become available. I decided to use it in my (apparently) queenless parent hive - the one that's had all the problems with beetles.
What do I have to loose? If there is a queen already inside that's great! If not, well the new queen should help bring the hive up to strength. Win Win! But I don't have much time. She's been in her cage for about a week now and there's no candy plug left - so once the cork is removed that's it - acceptance or be killed.
As she's been in so long I reckon I'll have to release her tomorrow, unless it's really clear the bees don't like her. Then maybe I'll just pull her out and hope someone else wants a queen.
STOP PRESS: The new queen was released yesterday evening. The workers appear to have accepted her, so it's now fingers crossed for about a week!
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