Introducing a caged queen

[Bluebell1985]

So one of my hives is hopelessly queenless. It was the result of a split I did a few weeks ago.

I am certain there are no queen cells and the bees do not have the means to make any. Can I safely remove the tab and let them eat through the fondant or do I need to leave it sealed for X amount of days before doing so?

Many thanks.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

No harm in leaving the tab on overnight before removing.

 

[Bluebell1985]

On this subject. My queen will not arrive for another 3 days. What is the risk that in these few days the hive will develop a laying worker?

 

[Heather]

Split, so one of the hives is queenright.. give them a frame of young brood from other hive (shake bees off). It will help in the interim till new queen delivered.

 

[pargyle]

On this subject. My queen will not arrive for another 3 days. What is the risk that in these few days the hive will develop a laying worker?

Unlikely and when it happens it's not usually one laying worker .... it's a fair few of them ! You should be OK for another three days if they have not already got laying workers. Not all colonies do start up laying workers ...

But. if they have been queenless for that length of time without any signs of being queenless ... are you sure that they are actually queenless ? Have you put a test frame in to see if they make queen cells ?

If you introduce a new queen into a colony that already as a queen you risk the introduced queen being killed and you have nothing to show for your £40 !

 

[Bluebell1985]

Unlikely and when it happens it's not usually one laying worker .... it's a fair few of them ! You should be OK for another three days if they have not already got laying workers. Not all colonies do start up laying workers ...

But. if they have been queenless for that length of time without any signs of being queenless ... are you sure that they are actually queenless ? Have you put a test frame in to see if they make queen cells ?

If you introduce a new queen into a colony that already as a queen you risk the introduced queen being killed and you have nothing to show for your £40 !

They are 100% queenless. I did a split from them about 10 days ago, removing their queen. Knocked down queen cells yesterday during my inspection. I added a queen in cage but messed up my timings slightly. They must killed her and obviously had larva just at the right age to make more emergency cells.

I think my timings were out by a day. Lessons learnt.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If you are going to make them hopelessly queeenless you need to return one week after you remove the queen to remove emergency cells.
The best way is one queen out next one in.

 

[Smudger55]

If you are going to make them hopelessly queeenless you need to return one week after you remove the queen to remove emergency cells.
The best way is one queen out next one in.

do you mean put the caged queen (in cage) straight in after taking out old queen ( how long then till breaking off tab ?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes. Straight away.
I wait three days with a quick look to make sure there aren’t any queen cells

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

do you mean put the caged queen (in cage) straight in after taking out old queen ( how long then till breaking off tab ?

Yes - I tend not to wait more than 24 hours before breaking the tab, unless when I open up to do it the bees are being especially unfriendly to the queen
I've had more failures from waiting too long than too little