installing AI/II queens

[tecumseh]

in the next few weeks I will receive my first artifically inseminated queens. any advice on installing and maintainingg these would be greatly appreciated.

[stangardener]

at this point in my career i would introduce them in their cages sans attendants to nucs made up with an eye to young bees. if russian i'd attempt to make it from dark bees.
i'll be interested to read posts to this as i plan on ordering a russian soon for next may.
what flavor/s did you choose?
where did you order from?

[RayMarler]

Introduce them without attendants, attendants cause problems and fights with the bees in the box you are introducing them into.

Make up your box a few days ahead of time, with no open larva younger than 4 days old and no eggs.

Use a pushin cage to intro the queen. Check her every three days to see if the bees are aggressive or not towards her. When she lays eggs and as the eggs are hatching into larva, if the bees are calm to her, remove the pushin cage to release her.

[tecumseh]

thanks for the input strangegarder and ray.

seems like you each have different methods for introduction. but seem like??? some agreement on young bees and capped brood in the nuc.

any preferred size of box?

and strangegardener my choice is a set of cordovans from glenn apiaries.

[BerkeyDavid]

Tecumseh
Glenn Apiaries has good advice on their web site.

Mine didn't take off very well this year and petered out early. They are giving me a new one next year. I checked the spernmatheca and she was fully mated.

She was accepted fine using push in cage with no attendants over emerging brood.

But I was ready to start grafting immediately and confined her too soon, probably should have given her more time to get situated. Next time I don't think I will even confine her, just let her lay whereever then just graft the smallest larvae from whereever she lays.

[JSL]

For really special queens, I have found that using a five frame nuc box is a good size to start with. To make up the nuc, I start with two nice frames of honey, and an empty. The honey can go on the outside wall and the empty can be placed up against one of the frames of honey. I then head to the bee yard to find two frames of sealed brood that are just starting to emerge. Put the two frames of emerging brood and adhering bees into the middle of the nuc. For good measure, I also like to shake a frame or two of young nurse bees into the box. Then, leave the nuc in the yard, just for a day, where you collected the bees and brood from. Close down the entrance to prevent any robbing. The idea behind this is to establish a well fed nuc with only young bees. By leaving the nuc in the same yard for a day, all older field bees will return to the parent colony. I generally like to do this in advance so that the brood is emerging when I introduce the new queen. A candy cage works just fine. Leave the candy covered for 4-5 days and then remove cork. There is no hurry. Good Luck!

[bleta12]

I got some queens from Glenn this year. I introduced them in 10 frame deep, 24 hour before introduction I feed them and in mid day I removed the queen and moved the location of the receiving hive i the yard, reducing the number of older bees, left only one attendants in the cage and left both corks and after 3 days went to release the queens. In one of the hives, the bees had gone through both corks and candy and the queen was released and accepted. I had to release the others. I was very happy with Glenns queens, they were laying very well and I used them all season.

Gilman

[adamf]

Glenn Apiaries has good advice on their web site. She was accepted fine using push in cage with no attendants over emerging brood.

Make sure some will actually be emerging.

Use a small nuc like everyone has stated. Observe the queen frequently, and
if there's ANY aggressive behavior be ready to remove the queen. Usually when
a worker climbs on an II queen, aggressive behavior will ensue.

Some can be let out in three days, others take up to six days. Watch the
queen closely after you let her out of the push-in cage. Go back and check
on her in 20 minutes to be sure. Losing a precious II queen to aggressive
worker behavior is very tough to handle.

II queens can peter out quickly or last years. Once she's laying a pattern
get some grafts from her to justify her purchase!

We're about to start our annual II sessions. Long days and much
anticipation. The rewards are worth it though.

Adam Finkelstein
www.vpqueenbees.com

[RayMarler]

Glenns will send you a push in cage for each queen you ordered with instructions on installing her as per what they recommend. They also have instructions on their website I believe. Tom and Suki are nice people and will guide you well.

[Aspera]

Make up splits from capped brood. Triple check that no virgins or queen cells are transferred. Install by placing the queen in a queen cage over mature capped brood without attendents. Return again on day 3 to check for virgins and queen cells. Destroy all of the aforementioned. If the bees are grooming rather than biting/attacking the cage, then release the queen on day 5-7 after again checking for rogue queens/cells. do not disturd for 2 weeks following release. As with all introductions, hives constructed from multiple healthy colonies during a flow are more likely to accept.

[Aspera]

The Glenns have a quality product.

[tecumseh]

thanks for the instructions. manytimes every little tid bit helps.

oh yea, welcome aboard jsl.