REQUEENING OBSERVATION HIVE - 3 strikes and your out

[BEEMAN]

I caught a small swarm about three weeks ago and decided to use it to put in my observation hive. After about two weeks I noticed that there were only about ten or fifteen cells with capped brood. The queen was going through her process of "laying" in the cells but nothing. I decided to requeen the ob hive with a Russian queen. I placed the cage in the hive about 24 hours after removing the original queen. After about two days they had released the queen and I noticed that they had "balled" the new queen and killed her. I tried it a second time with a Russian queen, same thing. I decided to try to requeen with an Italian queen. Same thing happened. Today I noticed that they are building supercedure cells on the top frame of the ob hive. Can anyone give me an idea why they did not accept one the the three new queens introduced and are now building supercedure cells?

BEEMAN

[Michael Bush]

The first one, I don't know.  But Russians are known for acceptance problems.

I'd try a push in cage release over some capped brood.  Do you have a hive where you can get a frame of capped brood?

[BEEMAN]

FROM BEEMAN
MICHAEL
THANKS FOR THE REPLY. I DO HAVE OTHER HIVES THAT I COULD GET SOME CAPPED BROOD FROM BUT AFTER COMING BACK INTO TOWN YESTERDAY FROM DOING TWO CUT OUTS IN THE SAME OLD HOUSE THAT WAS GOING TO BE TORN DOWN, I NOTICED THAT THERE WAS A NEW QUEEN THE OBSERVATION HIVE. IT IS NOT ANY OF THE QUEENS THAT I TRIED TO INTRODUCE. SHE IS A BRIGHT YELLOW/ BROWN COLOR AS IS THE COLOR OF THE CORDOVAN QUEENS. I NOTICED THAT THERE WERE THREE SUPERSEDURE CELLS ON THE TOP FRAME. TWO WERE DISTROYED AND THE THIRD WAS IN TACK BUT EMPTY. I GUESS THAT I DID NOT NOTICE THESE CELLS BEFORE BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY BEES ON THE FRAME. SHE IS NOT MARKED SO SHE HAD TO HAVE BEEN RAISED BY THE BEES. NOT SURE YET IF SHE IS MATED BUT IS A VERY NICE QUEEN. HER THORAX AND HEAD ARE A BRIGHT BROWN COLOR.

MICHAEL
I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU ABOUT THE TWO CUTOUTS THAT I DID LAST WEEKEND. THE FIRST HAD A SMALL NUMBER OF BLACK BEETLES ON THE DRONE COMB WITH I CUT OUT AND DISTROYED. I PLACED THE BROOD COMB IN THE FRAMES IN THE HIVE MAKING SURE THERE WERE NO SHB ON THE COMB. THE SECOND CUT OUT HAD ONLY TWO HIVE BEETLES THAT I NOTICED BUT NEITHER WERE ON THE COMB. I HAVE SEPERATED THESE TWO HIVES FROM MY OTHER HIVES UNTIL I CAN BETTER CHECK THEM TO MAKE SURE THERE WILL NOT BE A SHB PROBLEM WITH THEM. IF I FIND THAT I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THESE HIVES WITH SHB WHAT SHOUD I USE TO TREAT THEM OR SHOULD I DISTROY THE HIVES. THESE ARE VERY DOSILE FERAL BEES AND BOTH CUTOUTS WERE VERY STRONG HIVES IN THE WALLS OF THE OLD HOUSE.
I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH BEETLES, OR MITES IN ANY OF MY HIVES AND DON'T WANT TO START WITH THEM IF I CAN HELP IT. I WOULD LIKE TO KEEP THESE DOSILE BEES IF POSSIBLE.
THANKS FROM THE LOUISIANA BAYOU COUNTRY.

[Brian D. Bray]

If the hives are strong they will do a fairly good job of controlling the SHB on their own.  To be on the safe side you can get some SHB traps from Bushy Mountain.

[Michael Bush]

I've never had to deal with SHB, so I have no real experience to draw from.  There have been discussions on here, try a search.