Reusing mini mating nucs for virgins

[Eyeman]

Here's a snippet from Dave Cushman's site on introducing a virgin to a previously used mini nuc. Anyone got any experience or other tips?

After reading Luis Medina's paper on introduction of virgin queens to mini-nucs the following points stand out:-

Virgin queens should not be more than 3 or 4 days old before introduction.
The receiving nuc should be queenless for at least 24 hours.
The queen should be confined in the nuc for at least 48 hours before being liberated.
The mating nuc should have capped brood at the time of introduction.

 

[Ian123]

I normally just remove queen at any point and pop a cell in no fuss then. Queens can be removed any time then even many days before

 

[Eyeman]

I normally just remove queen at any point and pop a cell in no fuss then. Queens can be removed any time then even many days before

Yes that's what I nomally do with QC's.
Can't get around to the mating sites this time so the cells will go into the incubator- hence the virgins.

 

[B+.]

Can't get around to the mating sites this time so the cells will go into the incubator- hence the virgins.

All my queens emerge in Nicot cages in the incubator. They move slowly at first so it's easy to mark them with numbered plastic disks and introduce them straight away.
The longer you leave them in the incubator after emergence, the less likely it is for the bees to accept her. 2 days is the absolute latest I would say. I try to get them in within a day. I had a batch that I couldn't get in for 2 days and the bees balled most of them.

 

[Eyeman]

All my queens emerge in Nicot cages in the incubator. They move slowly at first so it's easy to mark them with numbered plastic disks and introduce them straight away.
The longer you leave them in the incubator after emergence, the less likely it is for the bees to accept her. 2 days is the absolute latest I would say. I try to get them in within a day. I had a batch that I couldn't get in for 2 days and the bees balled most of them.

Thanks
Do you keep them in for a couple of days?
Anyine tried putting the virgin in a transport cage with fondant?

 

[madasafish]

Thanks
Do you keep them in for a couple of days?
Anyine tried putting the virgin in a transport cage with fondant?

Yes: it worked..
But sample size of two so meaningless. Maybe I was lucky

 

[B+.]

Thanks
Do you keep them in for a couple of days?
Anyine tried putting the virgin in a transport cage with fondant?

Yes. Of course. I found that queens that weren't kept in with a queen excluder often appeared in different queenless nucs or were killed as they tried to enter nucs which already had a queen (virgin)
It's best if the queen has to solicit food through the bars of the cage. The bees will feed her if they are queenless. They will be very enthusiastic and could kill her in the process if she isn't caged so she has somewhere to retreat when they get over-enthusiastic
You can release her when you are confident that she's accepted

 

[Eyeman]

Thanks for the feedback