Best way to replace a Drone Laying Queen?

[plumberman]

There will be some activity, but you will easily see that there is a change from making the cage look like a "hedgehog" to a much more "laid back" approach.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I'm getting worried now, having removed the plug cover yesterday when there were quite a few of them zipping around the cage. Guess I'd better check this evening if the plug is still in and if they appear to be biting

 

[Busybee123]

There will be some activity, but you will easily see that there is a change from making the cage look like a "hedgehog" to a much more "laid back" approach.

Thanks. Did not look in today, but bees certainly are not what you'd call "laid back". Stood by the hive for a minute watching the bees going out and in and one of the little blighters went for me and stung me on the arm (I wasn't wearing my suit) A couple more came at me and I made a hasty retreat!

 

[Busybee123]

I had a look in today - it has now been 5 days. The queen is alive and well in her cage. There are still quite a lot of bees around the cage, but not as many and mainly around the sides, not on top of the cage. It was easy to see the queen in there whereas before there were so many bees on top of the cage I could hardly see in at all.

Anyway, I'll leave it a couple more days before opening the cage.

The weather has been nice here but forecast for the rest of the week is very bad.

When I release the queen, would it do any harm to stick a rapid feeder on with a couple of litres of thin syrup, or would I be best not to feed?

Just wondering what impact feeding or not feeding might have on the chances of the bees accepting the new queen.

 

[Knoxen]

Probably better to give them pollen (or substitute) to get them in the brood-rearing frame of mind - and make sure she's got plenty of room to lay.

 

[Busybee123]

I released the new queen from her cage last Thursday, after being caged in the hive for 8 days. The bees were still showing an interest in the cage, but were not nearly so aggressive towards the queen. I did not feed the colony in the end - just removed the wooden plug from the cage (leaving the paper inside) and closed the hive up.

One week on, I had a look in the hive today. I pleased to say that the new Queen is alive and well and has layed a couple of frames of eggs, and there's larvae as well. Bees are much calmer - what a difference!

I don't know if i was just lucky, but I would certainly recommend this method of queen introduction to anyone, and thanks again Plumberman for suggesting it. Using this method you have to be patient and it does require monitoring the situation until you release the queen, but it works!