Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
colonies—drones that aren't capable of mating, and queens that aren't capable of pro-
ducing many eggs.
The short term answer here is that the more care you take in introducing your new
queens, more food, and less interaction with bees they aren't familiar with, the greater
the probability they will be accepted.
If you place her in a second box between frames, hold the frames secure, and place
this box on the box with all the workers. Place the pollen substitute patty directly on the
top bars to one side of the inner cover hole before replacing the inner cover, or putting
on the hive top feeder. Leave the paper on so it doesn't dry out. Replace the inner cover,
position the feeder if you are using a pail over the inner cover hole, and cover with extra
supers. (Or, put on the hive top feeder, the inner cover, and close the colony.)
And you're done. Make sure the small entrance to the reducer is open to let the re-
maining bees in the cage go in at their leisure (usually overnight is fine). Pick up all the
extra stuff and tools you brought to the site and call it a day.
If you're still uncertain, reread this section so the sequence is clear in your mind. It's
fairly simple and straightforward, but being familiar with it always helps.
First Inspections
There are many recommendations on how often to inspect your colony, especially a new
package. (Checking the amount of available sugar syrup doesn't count as a visit.)
Oops!
“I dropped the queen's cage! Help!” This happens, especially when you're wear-
ing gloves. You have to get it. Here's how: Quickly put the cover back on the
package. Look for the queen cage in the mass of bees inside. If you don't see her,
gently roll the package until you spot the cage. If you don't already have a glove
on, this may be a good time to get it. Gently thump the cage to confuse the bees
and spray them with syrup. Remove the cover, and reach in, grab the cage, and
pull it out. Quickly replace the cover. It's that simple. If you can, don't wear your
glove. The texture and feel of all those nonthreatening bees on your fingers and
hand is a feeling like no other.
In the past, before the troubles with queens became endemic, it was thought that dur-
ing installation you could simply remove the covering from the candy end of the queen
cage when you were placing the cage in the colony and let the bees begin to release
the queen immediately. This normally took two or three days—ample time for introduc-
