Attendants in or out

[East Yorks New Bee]

I am puzzled, some places say to take atttendants out before intoducing a bought in queen and some say it does'nt matter if you leave them in. Which is it folks? or is it another one of those personal preference things?

 

[Poly Hive]

I have never seen leave them in written anywhere.

It is a definite take them out.

Risk is they will kill the queen.

PH

 

[steve1958]

I would think that the Queen stands a chance of being accepted if introduced correctly, as the Hive needs her.
However the attendants could be seen as a definate threat, and end up being attacked.

 

[Geoff]

The hive gets used to the scent of the queen but not the attendants. When they get out a fight breaks out and there is a high risk of the queen getting killed in the chaos. When I get the attendants out I do it in the bathroom. I put in the plugs and block all holes such as overflows cause queens are good flyers. I would not do it in a car. Can you imagine how many hiding places there are in a car?
Undo the travelling cage in a big plastic bag using bare hands and try and get the queen back in her own. Bickerstaffes have some recommendations for introducing queens on their web site such as not using smoke, but using a spray of sugar syrup with almond essence added.

 

[Onge]

At our club we always leave the attendants in.

 

[grizzly]

No point me adding the same advice, but New Beekeepers reading this thread, please take note ALWAYS remove the attendants before introducing the Queen.

 

[mikethebee]

We sell thousands of queens and introduce hundreds to our nucleus every year,
We always take out the attendants in the van on site, using the plastic bag.
Before introduction we give a very heavy smoking of both hive and queen take the hive tool and scratch the capping off the honey at the top of the brood frames (no need to take them out) place the queen cage candy down between the brood frames and give good smokein again, the bees are so disorganized it will take them hours to clean up and except the queen with no problems
THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE don’t go poking about every 10 days looking for the queen, You can do all your beekeeping from outside the brood box.
Any body that tells you to look every 10 days wants there ass kicked

 

[BKF Admin]

Mike do you always put the Queen cage between 2 brood frames ?

I have found that when marking and clipping a queen if you put her on an outer frame(Stores frame) the bees dont expect to find her there and nearly always ball her,by putting her between 2 frames of brood they expect to see a queen in that area and just except her even with a bit of smelly paint on her back.

 

[Onge]

Well it looks like the consensus of opinion is to take attendants out. So when I get round to getting some queens in (usually grow my own) i will take the attendants out.

Thanks all

 

[Hawklord]

...THEN LEAVE THEM ALONE don’t go poking about every 10 days looking for the queen, You can do all your beekeeping from outside the brood box.
Any body that tells you to look every 10 days wants there ass kicked

When do you open a brood chamber to inspect for disease, and room etc?

I like to check every 7 days for convenience, obviously when introducing a queen I would leave for a longer period say 2-3 weeks depending if she was a virgin.

 

[Norton]

Delete

 

[bobandbec]

I have never removed attendants from post travelled queens,

On the other hand if I'm introducing an Apidea queen I've bred I don't add attendants.

The results either way seem to be pretty similiar.

The other factors in introduction are more important.

Peter

 

[mikethebee]

NORTON
I prefer to leave them in because the colony will sometimes ignore the queen that is being introduced and she could starve to death or become dehydrated

You hit the nail on the head SOMETIMES!!. We can’t afford to take the chance leaving attendance bees in AT THE PRICES WE PAY.

The word you use dehydrated.
Imported queens being caged and delivered late that’s where we get dehydrated queens from.

Imported queen breeders should ensure sending orders as quickly as possible,
When late in sending bees out the breeder will top up the candy to the cage making it look as if the bees has just been added.
that’s where we get dehydrated "as you well know."

The queens we get from W Australia are collected placed in a chilled room ready to fly out the same day on the night flight thay dont send 1 and 4s they send thousands at a time all over the world so should know what there doing.

 

[Norton]

Deleted

 

[Poly Hive]

Norton?

I think I am right in saying the normal procedure in the UK is to remove the attendants.

If you two want to carry on having a fight over every aspect of bees please feel free to do so. Preferably on the phone and not whilst confusing the newbies on here.

Cummon guys get a grip.

PH

 

[Geoff]

Its not so much a fight, more another case of asking a question to a group of beekeepers and getting more different answers than there are beekeepers.

 

[Norton]

Very well! If you are not interested in how we do things that is OK. I have deleted the posts so as not to confuse anyone.
Besh wishes
Norton.

 

[Frisbee]

Very well! If you are not interested in how we do things that is OK. I have deleted the posts so as not to confuse anyone.
Besh wishes
Norton.

You weren't confusing me, nor did I think it was a fight. I'm sorry you've deleted Norton as your opinion is as valid and valued as anyone elses

Frisbee

 

[bobandbec]

I personally value the opinion of an experienced, rational queen breeder (and I mean Nortons!) over and above the other advice being offered.
I haven't seen any firm and fast rules that say attendants must be removed and in my experience it is not necessary.

Let the people willing to contribute have their say without being derided or attacked. We're all entitled to our own opinions.

Peter

 

[buzzy bee]

Hi

We allways leave the atendants in, and we are in the UK, we have no problems, I don't think any part of beekeeping has set rules, anywhere in the world. Try it one way if you like it stick with it.

People giving advice is fine, but please do not think your way is the correct way, you couldn't be further wrong!

I never saw Nortons comments, but I guess he was doing it the same way we do?

Cheers

Dave