Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
tions to be made and relationships to be established. Especially since the bees and the
queen had already spent some time together in the cage during transit from there to you.
This is no longer the case; because of varroa mites, and the chemicals used to combat
them, the science and art of commercial queen production has changed. Now, there are
fewer feral colonies to supply drones and as a result the queens today are sometimes
poorly mated, or not mated at all. (This doesn't usually affect introduction, but if she
isn't mated at all it will because she's still a virgin and will be treated as such by the
bees.) Some of the chemicals used to combat mites in queen mating beehives by some
queen producers have been shown to be a disaster on the health and well-being of both
queens and drones, so they, too, have been producing less than stellar results. Queens
exposed to certain chemicals die young, have trouble laying eggs, and are physically
deformed. Then add in the fact that the varieties of queens are changing (Russians, hy-
brids, and so on) and the time needed for new queens and workers to become acclimated
has become longer.
Do not remove the covering from the candy end of the queen cage for at least five
days.
After the package has been installed, you must wait patiently. Watch the front door
for activity, make notes, take pictures, watch more, and be patient. Check the food situ-
ation on top, but don't worry about the pollen patty yet. (See page 95 for more inform-
ation on feeding pollen substitute patties.)
This is comfortable behavior—the bees aren't clinging to the cage or biting the wire.
Queen release now is safe.
When it is time, remove the cork on the candy end of the cage, using the corner of your
hive tool. Don't remove the cork on the other end or the queen will walk out prema-
turely.
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