Good News: The two hives I thought didn't have queens have queens!
Bad News: I spent $42 and an hour and a half drive to find that out....
On Monday, I drove to Waldo, OH for two Queens. The hives they were for had become aggressive and had not created any new brood ... to me this signaled "We are without a queen!". When I returned to the hives with the new Italian queens, the bees looked apt at accepting them. They quickly gathered around her - even building comb off the queen cage.
Tuesday, I visited the new queens to release them. Well - this turned out to be quite interesting! IMMEDIATELY the bees pounced and began dragging her down in to the hive. I pulled one worker from her who had placed an entire wing from the Queen in its mouth! Luckily I was able to remove the aforementioned worker without damaging the wings. The marked queen proceeded to fly away from the apiary. Have you ever seen $21 literally fly away in front of your eyes... I did. This of course was the best move for the Queen - as she would have been killed if she remained in the hive.
The queen release in the 'swarm box' also appeared very promising. They did not attack her in the same manner - phew! Unfortunately, this morning when I went to check on her I noticed a ball of bees at the bottom acting very aggressive - crud.... Turns out the second Queen was at the center of the mob - being killed. Phooey....
Well what did all this tell me. The two hives that I purchased queens for already had queens! EVEN AFTER I literally combed the combs looking for the Queens. May frustration ensue...
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