# Finding The Queen, The Heart Of The Hive !



## Hee Haw (Mar 23, 2006)

Finding the queen can be very hard at times, as most of you know. Based on your experence, is there a paticular place in the hive that you normaly find her, middle 3 frames, in the center, or near the end frames, ect.
Are do you Master Beekeepers have a ruteen as to where you look for her first,second, and sow on?


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## beaglady (Oct 7, 2002)

When you open the broodnest, there will be more bees on some of the top bars than there are on others. The queen is most often on one of these frames.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

That method works fine till they are boiling over in the spring and mid summer.

May 7 2005, three days before we split them.




























Ya just have to look with a sharp eye.

 Al


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

good heavans thats alot of bees, how in the world would you find her, a needle in a hay stack would be as effective to find it would seam lol


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

:dance: It does take a sharp eye and going over the frames a couple of time. 
You sure don't want to do a split only to put a new queen in with the orginal queen.
Crankest bunch of bees I have ever worked. It was like a family of 13 girls with one bath room.

 Al


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## btai (Mar 3, 2006)

I usually find them in areas with lots of eggs


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## Hee Haw (Mar 23, 2006)

Mam Kind Al, What a strong hive, What kind of queen was in this hive and what are you feeding them?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

SMR carnie a year old. A Home recipe pollen patty with honey b healthy, corn frucouse, and honey put on the hive in Febuary. 1:1 Syrup starting in mid March.
We acuatly did a split and a 4 frame nuc from these colonies.

 Al


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## MichelleB (Jan 18, 2005)

My 9-year-old beekeeping buddy has requested a queen marking kit, and we're going to mark our queens to make them easier to find.


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## Mountaineer (Jan 1, 2006)

I've found them in either box, anywhere in between, but usually in the middle 4-5 frames.
It took most of the first season to recognize her (unmarked queens) but once I saw her, and understood exactly what I was looking for, she always just stood out.

Queen in middle.









Where's Waldo? (the queen) Upper middle, slightly to the left. Kind of near the top. My best screen saver yet.


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## dcross (Aug 12, 2005)

If the bees are calm and not running on the combs(smoke helps) she moves in a "halo" of workers. Easier to spot that than just her. Marking is a big help too.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

We don't mark any more. Put 5 new queens in splits that were marked a week latter after they were released only one had all the red mark left and one had some left but 3 didn't have any of the red paint left on them and in two weeks none had any.
I've been told that some times they just don't like having paint on their queen.

 Al


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## Hee Haw (Mar 23, 2006)

OK, I found some new info on the easiest way to locate the queen. Take one frame of brood,from the hive you are wanting to find the queen in.Gentle shake off all bees from that frame.Do the same in another hive, switch frames from one hive to the next,close hive for 5to7 mins. Then open the first hive,and lift that frame that was switched and the queen will almost always be on that frame.You will actualy be finding the quenn in both hives this way.Be very careful that no bees are on anypart of the frame.
The home queen smells the sent from another queen and goes to that frame in search of her. This eleminates searching all other frames for her.After the search is complete, you may gentle shake bees off the frames and return them to their orignal hive. Have not tried this yet, but makes sence. What ya think?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Sounds like a plan if you need to see the queen and in only a few hives. Do give it a try and let us know if it worked.
Another thought here??? What happens if there are some nurse bees left on the frame of brood?? 
I am always pulling frames from an extra strong hive with brood and nurse bees and placeing them in a weak one. Of course I mask the nurse bees and I guess the brood since I spray them with vanallia.

 Al


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