No queen candy?

[DavePaulson]

My package bees queen cages had no candy and came with instructions to immediaetly release the queen by ripping off the screen and allowing her to walk out onto a frame. Is this normal?

Dave

[beemaster]

The candy itself is not food for the queen, she is fed syrup from the workers who get it from the syrup can. This process helps to spread the pheromone from worker to worker during the shipping process - and you'll get a dozen different answers on this, but I still wouldn't release her directly after placing the bees in the hive, I'd make sure they still had access thru the screen to feed her and give it at least a day before letting her out.

When you watch the seemingly frantic action of a massive swarm in flight, then realise that the queen is among all that havoc, she suddenly doesn't seem like the fragile princess we tend to make of her - and a package has had her with them several days already, I just don't see the need to release the queen during that first frantic day of moving into the hive - I believe that "just knowing she's there" in the hive is enough to allow chaos into to return to logical "social order" in the hive and THEN let her out about ten minutes after smoking the hive - if you need to hand release her.

What I don't like is when a queen is packaged alone in her queen cage, I like attendant workers in there so she has someone to bounce into if the cage gets handled rough or even dropped. Typically 6 or 7 workers are caged with her and as they exit the uncorked end, she falls into place in orderly fashion. A lone queen in the cage just doesn't seem right to me, although I know many suppliers ship that way.

Keep us updated on how everything works out :)

[randydrivesabus]

yesterday when i installed 3 packages i uncorked the queen and there was no candy at all....just a hole. now maybe i uncorked the wrong end but the other end had a thin metal disk around it that made for a handy way to hang it from the top of the frames. these are packages i picked up at brushy mountain. so heres hoping that the package already loves her and wouldn't think of doing any harm. i would guess that they've been together for at least 3 days or so.

[DavePaulson]

Too late, already released them per intructions. I will let you know how it works out though.

Dave

[Zoot]

I accidentally released 2 queens last spring by uncorking thr wrong end. They were immediately accepted and got a nice jump on things, started laying right away. I will proably do it intentionally from now on and take the chance.