Is candy in queen cages necessary?

[Taliesin]

Queen cages for introduction invariably have a candy plug. Is it necessary? A lot of people advise removing the workers from the cage before introduction, so the queen isn't being fed the candy by workers while she's in there. When the bees look at though they're behaving with the new queen, the tab on the cage is broken so they can eat through and release her - but if she hasn't been released after 7 days, it's usual to release her regardless (as long as the bees are behaving well). So - why not leave the candy out and just release the queen 7 days or so after the cage goes in? Is there any other reason for the candy being there other than as a time release?

 

[mbc]

Food for transit really, and some people don't bother with the 7 days and tab thing but just let the bees chew her out, that's what I do, and I don't worry about the attendants either, it's all about the receiving bees more than the cage or whatever, some people pop queens in a paper bag with some bees from the colony, give it a shake and pop in the hive to let the bees eat them out, others will just spit on a queen before dropping her in, all methods lose a few on introduction, I reckon I'm doing ok if I get 9/10

 

[madasafish]

A new queen is ravenously hungry.

You want to ensure she is fed .

I always leave attendants in and never break the plastic cage seal on nasty hives but leave 4 days before doing so to minimise risk of regicide.

So far minimal losses..but my experience is limited to around 15 queens/year.