A question about Queen Reintroduction

[TheHoneyPump]

Skip over the tubes.  My experience is she does not walk INTO anything freely.  Put one of these catchers in your breast pocket whenever heading out to the bee yard. You will find it easy to use and exceptionally handy.  You will find more uses for it than you think. Get the steel one, for longevity and durability. The steel you will have for years. The plastic ones, you will have for half a spring season ... maybe. When it gets sticky and gummed up, put it in the dishwasher.

Alternative, just get really good at picking her up by the thorax ... gently.  Many folks grab the wings.  I prefer to go for her thorax, avoiding potential damage/injury to her wings. Keep a roller queen cage in your breast pocket.  Pick her up, pop her in the cage, then lay that on the top bars of the frames.  There she be, safe from injury from your antics and the bees know she is close and keep her warm.

Practice picking up gnarly riled up and p'ed off bees and putting them in the cage. If you are getting stung on the finger tips ... you are doing it wrong and need to practice some more.. ;)


Also to clarify on the queen catcher clip. You do not also need a queen cage. The purpose of the clip is not to cage queens.  Its purpose is to easily capture and safely hold her while you workover the hive. It is a REALLY handy beekeepers tool to have in your pocket. Open the clip. Set it over her lengthwise and down against the comb around her. Slowly let the clip close. The queen and the few bees around her are gently nestled into the clip. Once she is caught, just set the clip down on the top bars of a frame.  She is safe and freely moves around inside the clip while you work the hive. The spacing of the openings in the clip are queen-excluder size. The bees will go in and out of the clip, while the queen is kept inside it. To release her do the reverse. Finish off wreaking havoc all over the hive and there are mad bees everywhere. Put all the frames back in.  Get it all to the point that you are ready to close up.  Take the clip and hold it over the gap between frame top bars. Slowly open it and hold it onto the frame bars.  The queen walks out and down into the nest. Put the covers on. Walk away. Done done and done.
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[CoolBees]

Ah-hah. That's what they look like. I've had trouble picturing them, and haven't researched them yet. HoneyPump, thank you. I will do that. Excellent advice. I'll practice on some hapless drones too.  ... ahhh the things to still to learn ... I really enjoy Bees.

[BeeMaster2]

There is a hard plastic queen catcher that will not last at all. There is a soft plastic queen catcher that are very durable and last for years. I still have the first one that I bought in 2012. The metal ones have sharp shearing sides that if you are not real careful, do a good job of cutting off bee parts. The soft plastic one is a lot safer.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

There is a hard plastic queen catcher that will not last at all. There is a soft plastic queen catcher that are very durable and last for years. I still have the first one that I bought in 2012. The metal ones have sharp shearing sides that if you are not real careful, do a good job of cutting off bee parts. The soft plastic one is a lot safer.
Jim Altmiller

I bought both. I do not use the stainless for the same reason Jim. Very sharp inside edges and I was concerned. I have the hard plastic see through clip and I love it!!  Looks like the one in the picture but is see through, making it easier to see the queen once she is caught. I?ve seen videos of folks using both. To make the clip easier and much more handy to get to, clip it to your shirt and no digging through the pockets when needed.,
Phillip

[BeeMaster2]

I had a hard plastic QC, lasted until the first time I leaned on the pocket it was in. The area where the wire hinge goes through the plastic is very fragile. I have put my soft plastic ones through a lot of abuse with no failures. 
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

I had a hard plastic QC, lasted until the first time I leaned on the pocket it was in. The area where the wire hinge goes through the plastic is very fragile. I have put my soft plastic ones through a lot of abuse with no failures. 
Jim Altmiller

That is Experience talking! Thanks Jim, I hope that does not happen to me. But just in case it does, I found a package of four for $2.71 shipping free from China. So I bought 12 of these, three packages. When they arrived two weeks later I compared them to the Mann Lake  plastic one that I had already purchased. I could not visually see a different they look exactly the same including the casting crease. Therefore I am very happy to say the least.  Anytime I do a cut out, I placed the queen inside of one of these and put it in the box with the brood. I wait a day or so until I see bees 🐝 bringing in pollen before I release her. So far I have not had a Cut out colony abscond or leave. I might be wrong, but I contribute this to leaving the queen and the clip until above description is achieved. I?m sure this is common practice for you cut out people, but I added the extra for someone who may be new.
Phillip

[Ben Framed]

Get a plastic queen catcher. There are 2 plastic ones that I know of. One is soft plastic and the other is hard plastic. The hard plastic has a higher chance o hurting the queen and they break very easily. The soft ones are safer and very flexible and hard to break.
Jim Altmiller

OK Jim. Guess what? Did a cut out late last week and my hard plastic queen catcher broke! And right where you said yours did! I don't have the soft plastic catcher but I do have two of the stainless steel ones as described by TheHoneyPump, so its stainless steel for me! Sharp edges and all! 
 
Phillip