Pulling cork on candy end of queen cage for split?

RangerBrad · June 09, 2011, 05:18:41 AM

Odd thing happened yesterday afternoon or I thought so. Got a queen in the mail to install in a split with one of my hives. A long time beek from the local area showed up to help me as this is my first split. We go through and pick the frames for the new hive and find the current queen and leave her with the old hive, at this point everything seems like I would expect then the odd thing happens. The beek pulls the cork on the candy end of the queen cage and installs her. I said shouldn't I leave the cork in for a couple of days till they accept her then pull the cork and let them release her? His answer was by the time they release her they will take her and she'll be fine. What are yals thoughts on this? Does this seem right or should I go back and stick the cork back on for a couple of days? Yals thoughts please. Thank's, Brad

iddee · June 09, 2011, 06:08:59 AM

He is correct.

FRAMEshift · June 09, 2011, 06:18:02 AM

Yes, he is correct. And I would come back in three days and if the queen is still in the cage, I would direct release her.

Jim134 · June 09, 2011, 06:34:49 AM

1

Quote from: iddee on June 09, 2011, 06:08:59 AM
He is correct.

2

Quote from: FRAMEshift on June 09, 2011, 06:18:02 AM
Yes, he is correct. And I would come back in three days and if the queen is still in the cage, I would direct release her.

3
And I would come back in about a week after the release to see if she is laying eggs.

Hope it works out you just my $0.02

BEE HAPPY Jim 134

RangerBrad · June 09, 2011, 08:19:29 AM

Thank;s fellas for the come back. I was afraid that they would release her soon enough then ball and kill her. Brad

Michael Bush · June 09, 2011, 08:29:23 AM

After I forgot to go back and pull the cork once, I've always pulled it when I install her... embarrassing to come back in a month and find the queen still in the cage...

danno · June 09, 2011, 09:38:32 AM

I had a cool thing happen this year. After the queens had been in for 3 or 4 days I went to pull out the cages. They always have a couple of bee's inside checking things out. As I pulled them out I always look through the candy tube. As I did this on one the candy wasn't completely gone but could see a hole and bee's inside. Just then the queen squeezed through, flew down on the top bars and disapeared into the hive. Here another thing I learned the hard way a couple of years ago. If the queen is not out after a few days and the candy tube is still plugged. Pay attention to the bee's on the cage. look for any aggression. Set the cage in the shade and go through the split. Good chance you took the queen from the split colony and if you release the new on they will just kill her

caticind · June 09, 2011, 10:43:29 AM

Quote from: RangerBrad on June 09, 2011, 08:19:29 AM
Thank;s fellas for the come back. I was afraid that they would release her soon enough then ball and kill her. Brad

If they release her it is because they have accepted her. They won't chew through the candy to let her out if they don't want her.

RangerBrad · June 09, 2011, 10:39:40 PM

Thank's, Fellas, Great news, I was under the impression that they were going to chew her out and if they had not accepted her by then they would kill her. Brad