Attendant bees with queen or not?

[Suzi Q]

What do forumers do when introducing queens, leave the attendant bees with the queen in the cage, or take them out?

 

[REDWOOD]

I left mine in but I think a better success rate is without attendants

 

[Bates]

We remove escort bees for introduction.

 

[Suzi Q]

We remove escort bees for introduction.

I had a mishap, an expensive one, the queen took herself off towards the window, I hastedly closed it, it was only open a crack, and it was at that point she decided to drop off the curtain, and was squished. I had four of the attendants out, and with hindsight perhaps it would have been OK to leave in only two with the Q. I am just sorry she was killed because of my foolishness. The vendor did say it was OK to leave them in, but everything I've read and most advice I've been given said to take them out. My first re-queening went without a hitch, but that queen and her attending bees were alot quieter.

 

[victor meldrew]

Introducing a Queen is done when a colony is Queenless, preferably a couple of days Queenless!. Accompanying workers will have the scent of the caged Queen , the colony will have been missing Queen pheromone! I don't think the Queen will get damaged by the workers defending her ,after all, by the time they are allowed to release her they will all have an homogeneous scent anyway!
VM

 

[oliver90owner]

Ouch! If you must have windows open, do you manipulations in a decent sized clear plastic bag, next time?

 

[Queens59]

I have always inserted with workers, and have never taken out a cage full of dead workers...

 

[Erichalfbee]

Leave in here.

 

[Bates]

I had a mishap, an expensive one, the queen took herself off towards the window, I hastedly closed it, it was only open a crack, and it was at that point she decided to drop off the curtain, and was squished. I had four of the attendants out, and with hindsight perhaps it would have been OK to leave in only two with the Q. I am just sorry she was killed because of my foolishness. The vendor did say it was OK to leave them in, but everything I've read and most advice I've been given said to take them out. My first re-queening went without a hitch, but that queen and her attending bees were alot quieter.

We always say to do it in a clear plastic bag, its easier this way as she is contained and you can see her.

 

[Suzi Q]

A large clear plastic bag will be added to my bee kit. Thanks!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I read an instructionon removing attendants from the introduction cage - it advised the beekeeper to open the cage near a (closed) window, all the bees including the queen would fly towards the window, you could then catch the queen and put her back in the cage, so you were almost there!

 

[susbees]

We always say to do it in a clear plastic bag, its easier this way as she is contained and you can see her.

. Excellent system. Also if the queen has come through the post put her in a new, clean cage.

 

[susbees]

I read an instructionon removing attendants from the introduction cage - it advised the beekeeper to open the cage near a (closed) window, all the bees including the queen would fly towards the window, you could then catch the queen and put her back in the cage, so you were almost there!

What it doesn't tell you is that the attendants are likely in a pretty awful, sting on sight sort of a mood and to wear a veil whilst trying to deal with them...

 

[nonstandard]

We take them out in a large clear plastic bag, you can guarantee that the queen will be first out though. Last time as she was first out I closed the cage folded the bag over and shook the workers out outside, I still got bl**dy stung though

 

[Bates]

A large clear plastic bag will be added to my bee kit. Thanks!

Foundation packets seem to work well.

 

[Hawklord]

I leave them in and spray the whole colony and cage with peppermint/water.

 

[victor meldrew]

This could become a Saga!
VM

 

[Norton]

The JZBZ cages that we use 90% of the time have a worker release bar at the end of the cage, so no need to fiddle around releasing and catching queens. We leave attendants in the cage, but I think studies have indicated better success without attendants. It's probably only marginal.

 

[MandF]

Sure I read somewhere that some people do this inside a spare bee-suit veil.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

Gave a large clear poly bag to my chairman who was moving queens today and suggested he use it, apparently saved one potential loss from our queen rearing program. Veil is also good.