So I waited a day late before pulling my queen cells from the cell builder hive. All of the queens were out of their cells except for one that was dead and halfway out of her cell. UGH! I hate those last minute trips out of town.
Anyway...in my cell builder hive I have a queen excluder over the entrance to prevent any rogue queens to come in and take over the hive. I am assuming that I need to empty this hive of all frames and bees and put into a conventional box to make sure I get a mated queen laying in that hive. Yes?
Thanks.
I've had virgins get trapped and die in an excluder in the past.
I had virgins get through, so I would asume a newly mated queen can do it too.
After they start laying, I would think that they will swell up and not pass.
I know swarm queens can squeeze through.