Another way to re-queen a colony anytime in the season is to take a frame with one well-developed queen cell from another colony, brush off all the bees gently over the hive and place it into the queenless hive. Hopefully, when the new queen hatches, there will be enough drones ready for the day they have all been waiting for. This is how I was able to re-queen one of my queenless hives on the Chena River this year. The new queen is laying beautiful patterns of eggs and I estimate obtaining about 5-7 gallons from this re-queened colony this season.
I decided to do a quick release on one of my Buckfast colonies by the Chena River. The new Carniolan queen took to the air and flew away. I left the area and returned two days later to find the queen in the hive laying eggs. That was about 10 days ago. Today's hive check proved to be very successful as multiple frames are now full of eggs, larva, pupa, and honey. I estimate this colony will produce between 4 and 6 gallons of honey this season.
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