Virgin queen just hatched

[tidymeup]

I had a hive that I needed to get into today as I know they would have a queen hatching any day and that their would be more then the one cell as I have been unable to get to them.

As I was going through I saw one virgin queen and just the one other sealed queen cell. So I removed the sealed cell and closed up the hive. As I looked at the cell the queen was quickly chewing her way out so I quickly grabbed a few attendants from the hive and place them all into a jar.

It was the only thing I had available to me at the time. My question now is I don't have enough bees to make up a full nuc could I place her into a small mating hive? Will she and her attendants wait a day or two until I have it ready assuming i give them something to eat?

Thanks.

 

[itchyhives]

Hi tidy, I did something similar last week. Removed 2 spare queen cells from 2 different hives that I could hear piping, stuck them in jars in the airing cupboard and an hour later both had emerged. Put one of them the next day in a small nuc with a few frames and shook in some bees from a couple of hives. Dont know how they are progressing as haven't been back to check on them yet but the queens both seemed fine overnight in a jar. Gave them both a small bit of brace come with a little honey in which seemed to keep them busy.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Midland Beek]

If you did not have the equipment to house the extra queen, it begs the question: Why take her out of the hive in the first place? Two virgin queens running loose in the same hive would have fought it out.

 

[BKF Admin]

She will be hungry so needs feeding.
You don't need attendants as virgin queens feed themselves.

Its not easy to introduce a virgin as she does not have a strong amount of pheremones.

Some say lots of smoke or dip her in honey and let the bees clean her off so transfering her smell.

When I introduce virgins I try to hive them within an hour of hatching.

 

[tidymeup]

I dont have the equipment to make another nuc. But I am raising some queens at the moment and I believe one has failed to make it back so was hoping to check then introduce her.

I removed her as I wanted to stop any possibility of a caste leaving an already depleted colony.