How to tell if they are not taking new queen

[lupester]

I just requeened a hive I spilt. I crushed the old queen and created two new ones. I did that yeasterday so the hives have has been queenless for 24 hours. Tonight I inserted a queen cage at the top of both hives. I will check on her tomorrow night. I hear about people saying if they are attacking her dont pull the cork. What does it look like when they are attaching her? I know what it looks like when they are attacking me.
Also, how long can I keep my extra queens in the house? Do i need to feed them?

[Pete0]

Attacking the bees will be all over the wire and trying to bite. If they are ready to accept her there will be bees trying to feed her, tongues out. I wouldn't get in a rush and wait two-three days and then pull the cork on the candy end. No need to make a hole with the nail.

You can keep her for awhile but need to give her some water once in a while. Wet you finger and rub it on the wire. Better to do this several times than to give to much and get her wet. Another way would be to put her above a queen excluder on top of a colony wire down. The bees will then feed and care for her. Some of my club members have kept queens like this for weeks.

Good Luck,

Pete0
Bena, VA

[Joseph Clemens]

If I'm in doubt about how tightly the bees are holding onto the queen cage, I test them by holding the queen cage and gently trying to push the bees off the cage with a small twig or piece of wood, like a popsicle stick. Bees that are accepting can be moved from their place on the cage rather easily, though they will simply let themselves be moved, then quickly resume their former positions. Bees that are non-accepting (ready to ball the queen) are difficult even to move the least little bit and if they are moved, even pushed off, they appear to resume their previous stance with a vengeance seeming as if they are trying to penetrate that cage.

I must admit that the differences are subtle, at least, until you've gotten some experience with the various manners that workers can exhibit towards caged queens.

[lupester]

I opened the hives today before i saw your advice on trying to move the bees hanging on the cage. The bees still seemed adjitated, I thought with a new queen they would be somewhat calmer. I split my second hot hive tonight and found a deep that I had moved to the top (trying to go to all mediums) was plum full of honey. Looks like we will be getting honey this year. I will check the three hives on saturday to see if i can find the old queen again and introduce new queens. I have a feeling which box it is but i want to give them a day to calm down. Wow, this splitting strategy can build up your number of hives quickly. last year I had 2 at the end of this year I might be up to 10.

How long can the queens in the agitated hives last with bees banging on their cage?