Queen introduction

[Simon88]

I have a couple of questions regarding queen introductions that I would be grateful if someone could answer.....

If you add a new mated queen (purchased) to a hive without the attendants, how long would the queen survive on her own?

If you added the queen with the attendants using an on the comb introduction cage, how would the attendants and the emerging brood get on together?

 

[0bee-1]

The Safest Method To Add Queens - How to Replace a Queen - How to Introduce Queen Bees - YouTube

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have a couple of questions regarding queen introductions that I would be grateful if someone could answer.....

If you add a new mated queen (purchased) to a hive without the attendants, how long would the queen survive on her own?

If you added the queen with the attendants using an on the comb introduction cage, how would the attendants and the emerging brood get on together?

She wouldn’t be on her own. The bees will feed her
A good way to se if the queen will be accepted is to watch the bees on the cage before you pop the tab. Hopefully a good number are trying to feed her
Emerging bees have no loyalty. They will see the queen and take her as their own. The attendants will simply be other bees

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I always leave the attendants in with the queen - no point fiddling around getting them out for one.
Never bother waiting a week to make them hopelessly queenless either - the new queen goes in minutes if not seconds (depending whether I left them in the truck or put them in a pocket) after the old one leaves I find leaving them hopepessly queenless can create as many problems as it solves

 

[Erichalfbee]

I never take attendants out.
I got a queen from BS just ten days ago.Interestingly their instructions on introduction say that for years they recommended removal but now suggest that it’s not necessary but that if you must do it with the cage in a plastic bag in the car.

 

[Mabee]

I dunk the cage in a glass of water then release the queen and pop her in a clean cage, the bees are all less likely to fly about and makes getting the queen easy, she’s perfectly fine and comes to no harm, it’s then easy to pop her in a press in cage by herself. I also think removing the attendants is good hygiene.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I also think removing the attendants is good hygiene.

How do you mean?

 

[Simon88]

Many thanks for the advice

 

[Mabee]

How do you mean?

just in case they are carrying disease from another hive

 

[Erichalfbee]

just in case they are carrying disease from another hive

Would that include the queen then?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

just in case they are carrying disease from another hive

well in that case - so would the queen!

 

[Mabee]

well in that case - so would the queen!

When queens are imported, currently the workers have to be removed and replaced for disease control, so maybe it’s not just me who thinks there may be a risk. The queen which you are purchasing is a risk you are taking by purchasing her but possibly less so by it only being her.
It’s fine if you want to keep them in there i’ve no issue with how anyone else does it, just offered someone advice on how to easily separate them from the queen which i’d prefer to do, for the reasons i’ve given, that’s all!

 

[Newbeeneil]

When queens are imported, currently the workers have to be removed and replaced for disease control, so maybe it’s not just me who thinks there may be a risk. The queen which you are purchasing is a risk you are taking by purchasing her but possibly less so by it only being her.
It’s fine if you want to keep them in there i’ve no issue with how anyone else does it, just offered someone advice on how to easily separate them from the queen which i’d prefer to do, for the reasons i’ve given, that’s all!

Do you kill the attendants?

 

[Mabee]

Do you kill the attendants?

They go in the freezer

 

[Newbeeneil]

They go in the freezer

What is the reasoning behind that?

 

[Mabee]

What is the reasoning behind that?

so they don’t join my other hives, for all the reasons stated above.

What’s your preferred way to do it? Do you keep the attendants?

 

[Newbeeneil]

so they don’t join my other hives, for all the reasons stated above.

What’s your preferred way to do it? Do you keep the attendants?

I would just squish them and deposit them in my smoker if I thought them to be a risk.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When queens are imported, currently the workers have to be removed and replaced for disease control,

no, it's so the workers can be sent back to Sand Hutton and be tested in case of disease - and if there is, the queen will have to go - as well as her new colony

 

[Mabee]

so they don’t join my other hives, for all the reasons stated above

no, it's so the workers can be sent back to Sand Hutton and be tested in case of disease - and if there is, the queen will have to go - as well as her new colony

If might be different rules in England and Wales, in Scotland SASA requires them to be removed:

 

[Mabee]

As mentioned previously, it’s what I do and have no issues with introducing queens, which is what the thread was about. If you choose not to, then I have no issue with that, they are your bees. If you did want to remove them then the method I described is really effective and an easy way to separate the queen from her entourage.