Queen caged problem ...

prana vallabha · May 31, 2014

i purchased some yellow plastic queen cages from th**nes, i put a queen into one of the cages with fondant and left the tab in place ,,, went back today to break off the tab to see the bees have ate the fondant and killed queen as the tab is to small . Where do you think i stand with the above company ......

Hivemaker. · May 31, 2014

Virgin queen killed mated queen?

oliver90owner · May 31, 2014

If the cage is faulty, I am sure they would exchange it for a good one.

prana vallabha · May 31, 2014

it was a purchased mated queen from a local supplier into a Queenless hive ,but surely as the tab was to small the bees would not have got in , the other hive i requeened with another cage from same suppliers is fine as the tab is the correct size , so surely they are at wrong for selling faulty goods ?

Hivemaker. · May 31, 2014

They don't need to get in to kill a caged queen, if they don't want her, if they do want her they will feed her through the mesh, queens can be caged for weeks and be fed by the bees.

Sometimes they will even completely propolise the cage mesh over if they don't want a queen.

ratcatcher · May 31, 2014

prana vallabha said:
it was a purchased mated queen from a local supplier into a Queenless hive ,but surely as the tab was to small the bees would not have got in , the other hive i requeened with another cage from same suppliers is fine as the tab is the correct size , so surely they are at wrong for selling faulty goods ?

or you were at fault for not noticing the different size before using it