Queen introduction advice?

[nonstandard]

I now have a queen on order and will have to introduce her to the hive,

I am planning on deposing the current, unmated queen as soon as dispatch of the new one is confirmed, does anyone have any other advice or tips for a successful introduction to the hive?

 

[Midland Beek]

What do you mean 'unmated'? As in, unmated, drone laying queen?

 

[huntsman666]

Why do you want to kill your unmated queen? Why do you think a travelled queen will be better?

Virgin queens are all behind on their nuptial flights because of dreadful May weather. Should be rectified over the next two days.

 

[Mike a]

It is vital the hive is queenless before you start. Some say 48 hours other say 4 hours either way the colony will know they are queenless.

I would recommend the slow release method, in other words using string or a paperclip secure the cage so it is suspended below the arc of honey within the brood nest area of the hive. Do not remove the tab to the candy plug until after 3-4 days.

This gives your new queen a very good chance of being accepted, if they look aggressive towards the queen in the cage do not remove the tab to the candy but recheck the colony for a queen.

 

[Juststarting]

There is a good guide attached to another thread, but I have been unable to find it - perhap someone else can.

I used this method to introduce my queens and it seems to work.

In summary
Make colony queenless 24 hr before intro (nucs are easier to introduce to). Wait until you have your queen to do this. She will be ok in her cage for 24 hrs and if you make the colony queenless for too long then it can cause problems.

Securely seal queen release tube (2/3 layers of masking tape)

Place cage between two frames at top (some people wire it to a frame) I just wedged it.

Leave for three days.

Check for balling - there's a thread with a video of this if your not sure what to look for.

Remove any qc made - check thoroughly.

Repeat after 2 days.

If the queen cage is not being balled AND no more qc cell have been made. Then remove tape from tube to allow queen release. Other wise check again in two days. repeat until right condition exist before releasing queen can be upto 10 days.

Once tape removed leave alone for a week to allow queen to start laying. Early inspection can trigger workers to ball new queen.


Good luck,

 

[nonstandard]

Midland Beek & Huntsman, this is a queen that emerged 6 weeks ago, I saw her a couple of weeks ago and she is very small. As of today there are no signs of eggs or anything else, I have tried a test frame to no avail so she must still be in there.

My mentor (with 40 yrs experience) recommends that I either re-queen or bump her off and put in a frame with eggs from another hive.

 

[merylvingien]

What everyone else has said about the slow method.

Ive lost 3 out 4 queens by trying to rush things recently, expensive mistake that i will learn from.
That said, my bees are total gits that really should have thier throats slit a birth.

 

[RoseCottage]

I love the beekeeper and bee bond, something special borne from respect, admiration, and a natural symbiosis...



I learnt on here that requeening into a nuc and then combining nuc and main colony may be a very effective way of lowering the risks of queen loss.

All the best,
Sam

 

[plumberman]

I love the beekeeper and bee bond, something special borne from respect, admiration, and a natural symbiosis...



I learnt on here that requeening into a nuc and then combining nuc and main colony may be a very effective way of lowering the risks of queen loss.

All the best,
Sam

Not necessarily - colony just "done in" nice new queen introduced via nucleus / newspaper. She was a more italian type, and they were a very unproductive blacker bee I picked up as a swarm last year. Tellingly, having got rid of her, they had the choice of her eggs or the eggs from the replacement queen. Completely ignored her eggs, built emergency QC's from original. Bees clearly appear very sensitive to race of queen.

 

[stilllearning]

one method i have been told about but never used but sounds ok is to get a brood box and put in it several frames of good brood and place it on a strong hive above a QX after a few days a lot of bees will be covering the brood. gently take it off and place it on another floorboard and introduce the Q in the usual way. then if you have a duff colony unite it with your new hive once you've determined she is ok. as i say never done it but been told it works

 

[Stiffy]

There is a good guide attached to another thread, but I have been unable to find it - perhap someone else can.

I used this method to introduce my queens and it seems to work.

In summary
Make colony queenless 24 hr before intro (nucs are easier to introduce to). Wait until you have your queen to do this. She will be ok in her cage for 24 hrs and if you make the colony queenless for too long then it can cause problems.

Securely seal queen release tube (2/3 layers of masking tape)

Place cage between two frames at top (some people wire it to a frame) I just wedged it.

Leave for three days.

Check for balling - there's a thread with a video of this if your not sure what to look for.

Remove any qc made - check thoroughly.

Repeat after 2 days.

If the queen cage is not being balled AND no more qc cell have been made. Then remove tape from tube to allow queen release. Other wise check again in two days. repeat until right condition exist before releasing queen can be upto 10 days.

Once tape removed leave alone for a week to allow queen to start laying. Early inspection can trigger workers to ball new queen.


Good luck,

But please be careful with masking tape, they can chew through 2-3 layers in a day or two!
Cheers
S

 

[mannky]

Cor blimey I just read David Cramps chapter on this this morning! I may be doing the same; at least I thought I had a queenless hive, ordered a queen and then things fired up again. I could regurgitate everything I have learned but if you are like me you probably look to this site for people who have done this and encountered other problems. As has been said many times before the bees don't read our books! However, I thought it might be informative to pass on the key things that struck me from the chapter. Making sure the colony is queenless and lacking in any queen cells or princesses is very very important. New queens are more readily accepted via the nuclei method. Keep checking after introduction, lay pattern queen cells etc. I also found the advice on placing the introduction cage quite useful. "push the queen cage onto one of the brood frames.....position three quarters the way up the frame, and the cage's escape hole should be facing slightly upwards so that any dead attendants [by the way he does not advocate killing attendants first] won't block it. Don't push the cage onto the brood comb along it's flat surface because the bees outside need to communicate with the queen . Shove it into the brood frame at an angle ." If you have done the nuc method you will have put in 2 brood frames and the queen cage is between them. I am now off to read this chapter to the bees so that they comply!