Adding a new queen - attendants being killed

[Beagle23]

I have a split for which I've needed to buy in a queen. The queen arrived in a cage with 6 attendants. 2 of those attendants have now been killed and it looks like the resident bees are doing all they can to finish off the rest.

Is there anything I can do to avert disaster?

 

[Erichalfbee]

They are probably trying to get the queen as well.
How long have you had the cage in the hive?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

If it's the normal plastic cage, it's best sandwiched between comb so that the bees in the hive can only get at the long sides; the bees inside should be protected compared to the cage hanging freely between two frames of foundation, say. You may wish to delay breaking off the tab right now if the recipient colony is none too happy with the idea of having a new mistress.

There's no way that the colony has made a queen whilst you have been waiting for a new one to arrive? (Or there's laying workers?).

(I have seen the odd worker bee killed inside on occasion and the queen has been fine).

 

[Big robert]

I'll bet there's a virgin queen in there

 

[Erichalfbee]

I'll bet there's a virgin queen in there

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=46896

 

[ericbeaumont]

2 of those attendants have now been killed and it looks like the resident bees are doing all they can to finish off the rest.

I don't bother to remove workers from cages, reasoning that they and the queen have the same pheromone and eventually it will dominate the colony. Often the workers are dead after a few days although the queen is invariably active and looking well-fed, but does this mean that the workers have been killed? Perhaps they starved when fondant ran out, and were ignored deliberately by the colony, while the queen was fed?

 

[Ian123]

Although some here suggest leaving attendants in I’ve always followed advice from bigger and better queen rearers and removed them. If you think of how bees in the hive swamp a cage and grab legs or parts of the attendants to drag them to the cage side to sting it’s no surprise that damage to the queen can occur.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've never removed attendants, never had any issues.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Me neither.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think it's just another case of "it's the way it's always been.................." and probably stems from the requirement when importing queens the workers had to be removed,killed then sent on to the NBU together with the cage they came in for testing, it does no harm to remove the workers so the breeders cover all the bases and all of a sudden it's become a 'rule'.