Tricks for queen acceptance

Dr. Cricket · April 15, 2014, 11:30:24 AM

Anyone know any good tricks fro getting a hive to accept a new queen? It seems I remember hearing some before, but I can't remember what they are.

I re-queened my hives this weekend and even after having the queen in a small cage on the comb for 48 hours, they attacked her when she was released. Fortunately I was able to recage her and try again. I'm planning on releasing her again this afternoon, but thought I'd ask to see if anyone knew any good advice on things that might help.

RayMarler · April 15, 2014, 12:11:44 PM

Make very sure there is not already a queen in the hive, and no queen cells, and no laying workers in the hive.

10framer · April 15, 2014, 12:54:35 PM

wait more than 48 hours.
if you crushed the old queen and threw the new one in and opened the cage two days later you were pushing it in my opinion.

Vance G · April 15, 2014, 01:22:41 PM

Put a few drops of vanilla extract in a little spray bottle with water or light syrup and spray the cluster and the queen cage. That way they all smell the same.

greenbtree · April 15, 2014, 01:53:17 PM

On "another forum" people were telling a beekeeper to "properly condition" a hive for queen acceptance without going into to details. It would be great if some experienced beeks to chime in and do a run down on info that people could check for before introducing a queen. The only thing I can think of in this case is that you might have jumped the gun on releasing her and perhaps should of waited another day. I am not sure releasing her again tomorrow is the right way to go. Do you have any 1/8" hardware cloth where you can make a push in queen cage for the face of the comb? Are there any areas of capped brood next to open comb available? If so, I would dribble a small amount of syrup in a few cells (unless there is a little uncapped honey or nectar) and set her up in a push in cage, with the cage covering some empty cells, capped brood cells, and nectar. NO current hive bees.

jc

10framer · April 15, 2014, 03:28:04 PM

if you have more than a couple of hives it's a pain but killing the old queen then waiting a day before putting the caged queen in would probably help.

Dr. Cricket · April 15, 2014, 04:31:42 PM

I would dribble a small amount of syrup in a few cells (unless there is a little uncapped honey or nectar) and set her up in a push in cage, with the cage covering some empty cells

Thanks for the input. I actually started her out in a push-in cage. That's what she was in for two days, but I suppose I should have given her longer.

GSF · April 15, 2014, 08:17:14 PM

This may stray a little from your op but it can be a big help to know.

Mike Palmer video; 1:47 - Queenless Test (via cdray)

Mike Palmer Quennlessness Test

RHBee · April 15, 2014, 09:36:16 PM

All I know is make sure they are queenless, totally queenless. That means no queen no queen cells. The other helper is feed. I give a week for like race and 10 days for a change of races. I've been successful requeening italians with a Russian queen using this method. But, there are guys here with a lot more experience than me.