Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: ThomasGR on June 27, 2016, 11:03:30 am
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Hello,
I made my first 10 small mating hives and the first mated queens are "waiting" for my actions! I would like to know if i can introduce a queen bee in cage without attendants. Mating hives and queenless colonies are in the same yard, so there is no time of mailing and transfering.
Thanks
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Thomas,
Lots of breeders do not put attendants in the queen cage. When you get a battery box of 25 queens, the bees are not in the queen cages, they are in the box that holds the queen cages.
Jim
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Just yesterday I released a virgin queen into a hive that lost their queen due to robbing.
I placed her in the cage on the top of the frames. Bees slowly came out to check her out. After they covered the cage, I moved then away with my bare finger with no problem. Then I opened the cage and placed her on the top of a frame. Several covered her to the point she could not walk. Again I was able to move them off. She then was able to walk into the hive.
This hive was queen less for several days.
Jim
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We were able to requeen a laying worker hive by placing a mated queen into a push in cage. We did not shake out the hive. After 4 days the workers had burrowed under and we're taking care of her. We also used this method to requeen a hive where the queen didn't return from her mating flight. I highly recommend it, as the queen can start laying and emit her pheromones prior to her release and I believe has a higher rate of acceptance.
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>I would like to know if i can introduce a queen bee in cage without attendants.
I don't usually worry about it, but actually it is better to NOT have attendants when you introduce a queen. Some people go to great lengths to remove them.