reluctance to accept a queen

[adrian wilford]

i have tried to introduce new queens, 2 in some cases, to queenless colonies, even nucs, with the usual introduction cages, even wrappped the emerging ends in double newspaper, it appears that after a certain amount of time, the bees will not accept a queen, under any circumstances. no done layers or workers laying cells either, what is timescale?
any ideas welcome.

 

[beesleybees]

are you using a test frame to make sure they do not have a queen of some sort before introduction of a new queen?

ive never had a problem introducing queens to true queenless colonies.

If your adding a new queen to a big colony, its far better to introduce the queen via a nuc first and unite them

as for cages, i leave the cage in for 48hrs then remove the tab so the bees cant eat the fondant to release the queen. Once i remove the tab, i leave them for 2 weeks to ensure she is not balled upon inspection

 

[Stickyfingers]

I posted a recent thread similar to this as am in a similar situation. 48hrs is just too early. Already lost one like this. I have had current queen in 3 days and they were still showing aggressive behaviour. Norton recommended a week. I am sticking to that and then will check and keep in longer if necessary. Better to be safe before I pull the plastic tab.

I do find it strange that the bees reach a point of self destruction and just seem to reject everything?

 

[rook66]

i have tried to introduce new queens, 2 in some cases, to queenless colonies, even nucs, with the usual introduction cages, even wrappped the emerging ends in double newspaper, it appears that after a certain amount of time, the bees will not accept a queen, under any circumstances. no done layers or workers laying cells either, what is timescale?
any ideas welcome.

It is very difficult to introduce a queen to old bees, young bees are less hostile and more receptive. Dave Cushman advocated a system whereby the beekeeper could see what is going on and gauge the level of hostility, I found the best cage to use is one with two food compartments, whereby the bees access the queen for at least two days before she emerges. I modified the one in the photo,so it has two gates, this way I know when the agression is minimal and let them eat the food in the large compartment and release her. The photos might be of interest.

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0314.jpg
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0318.jpg
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0317.jpg
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0316.jpg

 

[Stickyfingers]

It is very difficult to introduce a queen to old bees, young bees are less hostile and more receptive. Dave Cushman advocated a system whereby the beekeeper could see what is going on and gauge the level of hostility, I found the best cage to use is one with two food compartments, whereby the bees access the queen for at least two days before she emerges. I modified the one in the photo,so it has two gates, this way I know when the agression is minimal and let them eat the food in the large compartment and release her. The photos might be of interest.

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0314.jpg
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0318.jpg
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0317.jpg
http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af191/rook66_photo/BILD0316.jpg

What's the flower pot part for?

 

[rook66]

"What's the flower pot part for?"
It keeps the cloth cover off the cage,It allows the bees to surround it and feed the queen, I can peel back the cloth and gauge the level of agression.

 

[Tim1606]

What i do is based on the same lines as in Herbert Mace's book The complete book of beekeeping.

Shake a few frames with unsealed brood to remove the bees and place into a brood box. This is then placed above a queen excluder and covered and left for about 30 mins.

After this time the frames will be covered with young nurse bees and can be placed into a nuc box. The queen cage is introduced as normal. After the queen has been released from her cage and is laying i unite the nuc back to the main colony.

This has worked for me 100% of the time this year and is also a great way to make up nucs for increase.

 

[Stickyfingers]

What i do is based on the same lines as in Herbert Mace's book The complete book of beekeeping.

Shake a few frames with unsealed brood to remove the bees and place into a brood box. This is then placed above a queen excluder and covered and left for about 30 mins.

After this time the frames will be covered with young nurse bees and can be placed into a nuc box. The queen cage is introduced as normal. After the queen has been released from her cage and is laying i unite the nuc back to the main colony.

This has worked for me 100% of the time this year and is also a great way to make up nucs for increase.

That's great if you have them but you can be Q- for so long that may not be possible.

 

[Poly Hive]

It is not normal at all for a colony to be queenless unless the beekeeper has been clumsy or very unfortunate.

Before ordering a queen use a test frame to make sure what your circumstances are. Then and only then think about buying in.

Queens are too valuable to waste on the of chance all will be well.

PH

 

[Hawklord]

I had a colony that had been q- for about a week and 3 other colonies to re queen. I removed the queens on the Friday and put the new ones in next day. I left the attendants in, and sprayed the whole colony and cage with peppermint and water. New queens were laying within 1 week. By the time the smell of peppermint has worn off the new queen will have started passing her pheromones. Leaving the attendants in helps with the food passing.