queen cage types and uses

[BjornBee]

I recently bought a box of queen cages from Kelly. I thought they were the cages that look like and are the same size as a hair roller. I must of ordered the wrong thing as I recieved something along the lines of a zippo lighter with a tube coming out the end. It does have a door for queen introduction and closure. I have never used this type and will probably throw them in a corner for now and use them later. I have never banked or used this type of cage in a battery box.
Am I correct in thinking these are for a battery box type set up in shipping bees? And when I do use them, how do you surround the queen cages with attendants? Should those bees come from the hive that raised the queens?

I normally use wood cages with the attendants in the cage, but the type mentioned above seems as if there is not enough room. So do people still stick a few in the cage with the queen?

Thank you.

[ikeepbees]

Bjorn,

I have received queens in the type of cage you mention, and yes, there were a few attendants in the cages with the queens. There are also caps available for the tube you mentioned that have a hanger for placement in packages (at least I think that's what it's intended to do).

[Chef Isaac]

I like those types of queen cages!

[Michael Bush]

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page26.htm

One of these?

I ship queens in them. I put candy in the tube. I put the queen and a few attendents in the cage. I've only had one queen reported to not arrive alive and that was a very hot spell in the South. The replacement arrived fine.

I've had good luck with them.

[BjornBee]

Those are the ones MB. So you use them just like the wooden cages and place attendants in the cage with the queen. Seems like a smaller area than the wooden cages, but I'll give it a try.

If I were to bank these in a battery box for shipping, how is that done? Would it matter if attendants were both outside and inside the cage at the same time? And whats the best way to fill the battery box with bees? From the same hive as the queens were raised?

I had always had bees from down south in individual cages, but this year I ordered alot from California, and they seem to favor the battery box set-up. Up till now I have only been a pick-up service but want to possibly start shipping. Is there a big advantage to battery boxes filled with bees?
Thank you.

[loggermike]

Those plastic ones are the JZBZ cage.I use them exclusively for my own queens.I made simple banking frames by drilling holes in a bar mounted in a frame .Just stick the tube in the hole.Dont drill all the way through so the bees cant get at the candy.The big advantage of these (and the California mini-cage )is they will fit between the frames easily if you use 10 frames instead of 9.I absolutely hate the big old 3 hole cage commonly used and insist on the small cages when I buy queens.But I always have them sent in battery boxes too-dont want attendants in the cage when I introduce them.

[loggermike]

Bjorn,I've never shipped queens in batt boxes.I used to send queens out in the 3 hole cages many years ago.Why not call some of the Cal queen raisers and ask about filling the batt boxes?I know a few and they are great guys and will surely give you the info-just getting ahold of them will be the problem.

[Lori McAllister]

Bjorn,
I received 2 new queens 1 week ago in cages like this. They were shipped Express Mail in a small priority mail box with holes punched at each end and then screened off for ventilation. There was a small well wetted spunge taped down on top of a square of plastic wrap to keep card board from getting to wet. The queen cages were secured down with tape and there were about 15 attendent bees with them. The queens looked great and have done great so far. There were only 3 dead attendents when I opend the box. However there were no bees inside the queen cages. I could look through the screen and see the bees feeding the queens through the cages.
Lori

[Michael Bush]

There's more room inside than it seems. The wooden ones have a much thicker wall. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[BULLSEYE BILL]

I prefer the cardboard battery boxes. I had 2/3 of my queens die in the JZBZ battery boxes this month.

I had an old cardboard battery box from two years ago and put the removed queens in the three hole cages and attendants in the battery box. The second week I left the box open in the yard while installing some of the queens and let the attendants change out. Still have two emergency queens left without any dieing after almost two weeks.

The problem with the JZBZ MIGHT be the lack of ventilation and the fact that it is opaque plastic. ANY sunrays may make it too hot.