'Forced' supersedure

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Has anyone tried this, which my wife suggests would be better called assisted supersedure? It involves placing a protected queen cell in a hive and hoping that it will be accepted and lead to supersedure of the existing queen.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/inducedsupersedure.html

I had no success last year. This year I have more queen cells than I can provide mini-mating-nucs for so I plan to try again. I Imagine the success rate would be higher in the summer when supersedure was more likely to occur naturally. If it works, it could be a painless way of requeening a defensive colony.

And if it doesn't, nothing is lost, and other methods can still be used.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I Imagine the success rate would be higher in the summer when supersedure was more likely to occur

I find more supersedures happen towards the end of the season

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

I find more supersedures happen towards the end of the season

I find the end of the season here is sometimes in summer. Certainly this is not H. balsam territory, and there's much less ivy than I would like.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Wouldn’t it be easier to Demaree, chose a queen cell and unite with the original box when the new queen is mated and proven.