I have not had the best luck with my requeening methods.
I have tried:
Pressing the queen cage (the larger one with attendants) into the comb and pushing the frames together. One ended up falling to the bottom of hive screen side down! Not ideal.
The other was ok but the bees built all kinds of burr comb between the larger gap between the frames in just 5 days!
The rubberband idea is a pain to remove.
I've heard everything from leave it on the bottom board screen up, to place her 1 inch down from the top bar in the middle of the brood nest screen down, to just pull the cork and release her into the hive. Not too sure about that last one!
It's hard to find a place to put her that isn't in the middle of something - honey pollen brood...
I'm sure there are a million ways but I'm trying to have it go smoothly and haven't had much luck.
Ay tricks?
Pinch cage between the top bars.
Come back in a week to see that she is free.
Clean up any comb that you dont want.
Call it a day.
the queen cages can be a pain. i pull a skinny strip of duct tape, attach one end to the cage and thumb tack the other to the top of the frame. if it's drawn comb, i push the cage into the comb a bit. you get some burr comb, but through trial and error i have found it not to be a problem if the candy end is up. if it's down, it seems to get blocked easier. i think someone could make a small fortune from beekeepers if they could market a better/easier queen cage! :-D
Quote from: kathyp on June 03, 2010, 02:32:00 PM
i think someone could make a small fortune from beekeepers if they could market a better/easier queen cage! :-D
I'm on it. I'll let you know if I make my millions!
I just put a shim/rim above the inner cover and lay the cage screen side down, angled so candy is a little bit down and then put the telescoping cover on. Never had it take more than three days and very little comb to clean up.