introduce

Queen Introduction

When you receive your queen and attendants your first concern is to make sure they
have water. The attendant workers need water to dissolve the queen candy and feed
the queen. The best way of doing this is by dipping your finger in clean water and then
quickly stroking your finger over the queen cage screen. After doing this, you will be
able to see the film of water over the openings in the screen. This should give the bees
about a drop of water. Every day the queen is not in the hive you must give them at
least one drop of water. I usually give them one drop in the morning and one drop in
the evening. Keep the bees in a dark place and at room temperature. It is best to keep
them out of high traffic areas which will increase air movement and cause drafts.

Keep the queen shipping cage out of any room where pesticides have been or are being
used.

It is important to get the queen into a colony as quickly as possible

The queen is contained within a cage that can be used to introduce her into the hive. If
you are going to use the shipping cage to introduce the queen, there is no need to
remove the attendant bees; however, removal of the attendant bees does increase the
probability of success.   The best way of removing the attendant bees is to open the
shipping cage inside a room with a window to the outside. Do this during day light.
Remove one of the staples on the queen cage and use the screen to control how the
workers escape from the queen cage. In this way you can get the attendant bees out
and keep the queen inside the shipping cage. The attendant bees will fly to the window
and will be easy to catch and remove. (I use a water glass to trap them against the
window pane and an index card to cover the open end until I can get them outside.) If
the queen escapes she will also fly to the window and will be easy to catch.   If she
does escape catch her by both her wings and return her to the queen cage.   If you do
not want to risk handling the queen introduce her with her attendant bees.

Before you introduce your new queen make sure the hive has been queenless and
without queen cells for 24 hours. Go through the hive and remove all queen cells. If
there are queen cells in the hive, the colony will not accept the new queen.

The shipping cage can now be placed between two frames in the brood area of the
hive. You will need to remove a frame to do this.   I do not remove either cork. In this
way I can release the queen when it is clear she has been accepted. I usually wait four
days to be safe. You will know if the queen is accepted by the behavior of the
workers. If they are crowding onto the queen cage and biting the wires the queen will
need more time. If they are strolling on the wire and feeding the queen, she has
probably been accepted.

Often a hive will start queen cells while the queen is still in the queen shipping cage. It is
critical all queen cells be destroyed at least 24 hrs before you release the queen.

When you think she has been accepted remove a frame with bees from the brood area
and lay it flat on the top of the frames. Remove one staple from the shipping cage and
release the queen onto the frame. If she has not been accepted she will be attacked by
the workers immediately. If this behavior begins you can rescue her and return her to
the queen cage. The easiest way of doing this is to catch her by the wings, lift the wire
on the queen shipping cage with the other hand and put her inside. After replacing the
staple you can return her to the hive to give her more time. If all is well the queen will
walk into the middle of the bees on the frame. The workers will form a circle of
attendants around her and there will be no aggression toward her. If you have the time
and are willing to watch you can see her find an empty cell, back into it and lay her first
egg.

Carefully return the frame to the hive and replace the frame you removed to make room
for the shipping cage. The workers will still be very interested in the shipping cage.
Just put it on top of the closed hive and eventually they will lose interest.

You may modify this method by removing the cork in the candy end on the third day
after removing all queen cells. The workers will free the queen over the next few days.
Using this method there is no chance of the queen flying and you will not need to handle
a queen. You still need to check to make sure the queen is released.   Because you are
not witnessing the queen's release there is a chance she will not be accepted when using
the modified candy method.

The colony should be left alone for at least two weeks so the queen and workers can
establish her brood area.