New Queen

[WelshPaul]

Im sorry if this is in the wrong section.

I have just recieved my new queen in a plastic cage, with some bees with her. What I need to know is that some people has said kill the bees with her, and just put her in the hive in the cage. Some people have said the oppositte. Im very new at this, and not sure what to do.

Paul

 

[Ferbanetreasure]

Her original escort should be removed before the queen is introduced to her new colony.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Differing opinions of course, some take the attendants out thinking they may put up a scrap with the surrounding bees and damage the queen, some say its unnecessary.

To me it seems prudent to take them out - do this in a sealed polythene bag as the queen is unlikely to sit calmly waiting for the others to pile out when you slide back the lid. When they all out in the bag manoeuver the queen back in the cage (easier if you remember she likes the dark) and pop the lid back on.

Personally I don't kill the attendants, just let them loose, though I suspect they'll be lucky to survive long

 

[Juststarting]

Its okay to leave the attendants in the cage - had no problem with the 5 we introduced this year this way. Its best to leave tape/cap on the cage until the bees have stopped balling and no queen cells are being made (can take upto 10 days). This way they the bees cant chew thru the candy too quickly - esp if the bees are not keen on accepting new queen - gives beekeeper a bit more control. I leave 7 days after taking tape/cap off the candy before checking - there is nothing you can do to help intro once the queen is realeased and the danger of checking too soon is that they will ball the queen even if she has started laying.

So being patient really helps and when you do check its a quick one to see shes laying and remove any qc that may have been made during new queens release.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've only ever done this once,re-queening a small split before re-uniting with main hive and I left the attendants in. All went well.

 

[WelshPaul]

Thank you all for your quick replies, got stung once, but managed to seperate her from the bees, put her back in the cage and get her in a frame in the hive. Patience needed now.

 

[MandF]

Our rbi told me recently that it was best to remove the attendants, as Mons Ab said above, as she might get caught in the crossfire of them fighting.

He also gave me a tip for doing this - hold the cage under your veil and in the light, open the cage & the attendants should fly out towards the light but the queen shouldnt. And if she did get out, you have her in your veil to rescue.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Our rbi told me recently that it was best to remove the attendants, as Mons Ab said above, as she might get caught in the crossfire of them fighting.

He also gave me a tip for doing this - hold the cage under your veil and in the light, open the cage & the attendants should fly out towards the light but the queen shouldnt. And if she did get out, you have her in your veil to rescue.

PS you do not want to be wearing the veil at the time

 

[Jonathan]

In my experience it makes absolutely no difference whether you remove them or not. I always used to remove them but never do now.

 

[xgeordie]

The message I got from a Regional Bee Inspector was it made no difference.

So far 6/6 sucess with leaving them in (and much less faff)

 

[madasafish]

logically, the queen's escort smell of the new Queen.. so if the hive accepts the new Queen they should accept the new bees.

On the basis that fiddling around with the Queen is an additional risk as well, I have never removed attendants. So as a new beekeeper last year, I have introduced three new queens with attendants - with 100% success.

KISS.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

logically, the queen's escort smell of the new Queen.. so if the hive accepts the new Queen they should accept the new bees.

and conversely if the hive doesn't initially like the new Queen's Channel No5 then they may encourage a scrap -though I'm not opinionated or knowledgeable enough to claim one way better than the other, each to their own