Shipping a Queen

[wade]

How do you get her into the little queen cage? Do you poke her through the little hole that candy goes into?

How about the workers? It seems like a person would get stung trying to get a worker through that little hole.

Would it be OK to transport a queen by herself for a day, say 8 hours? How about longer, like 18 hours?

Thanks

[Jonathan Hofer]

Usually, the queen is inserted into the opposite side from the candy. If you look at the cage closely, then you should see a plug on both ends.

Workers can be easily grabbed by the wings when they have their heads stuck into cells.

I wouldn't transport queens anywhere for any length of time without worker attendants, as I feel that it would decrease queen quality. I have no scientific proof to back this up, only my own beekeeping experience.

[Chef Isaac]

Tweazers (sp?) works great to grab workers. I like the plastic cages. You can open the top and actually scoop worker bees up into the plastic cage. I have wanted to try a funnel but I am not sure this is needed.

[Michael Bush]

>How do you get her into the little queen cage? Do you poke her through the little hole that candy goes into?

I use the JZBZ cages which open pretty wide. I usually have her in a marking tube from marking her and run her into the cage while I have them in a queen muff. If she's already marked I catch her in a hair clip catcher and run her into the cage. Sometimes I just put the cage over her. If you want to use the wooden cages, I'm guessing that they put her in and then put he screen on, but this will work:

http://www.beeworks.com/catalog/inde...roducts_id=130

>How about the workers? It seems like a person would get stung trying to get a worker through that little hole.

Most people look for a bee with it's head in a cell and grab both wings. I like the tweezer method that Chef Issac mentioned. I grab them close to the base of the wing with the tweezers and shove their head in the hole and when they run in, put my thumb over the hole.

>Would it be OK to transport a queen by herself for a day, say 8 hours?

I would not. She can't feed herself.

>How about longer, like 18 hours?

No. She will probably die.

[lake thompson honey]

the proper way to grab a queen is by the wing but you can grab the sides of the body if you do it gently. you poke her head up to the hole in the cage and she wants to get away from your hand and goes right in. its really pretty easy. there are posts on another thread about how to put workers in the cage beforehand. i personally think it is a mistake to have attendants in the cage with the queen. it has been said by people smarter than myself that attendants in the cage are sometimes the reason queens are not accepted by the hive. as long as you have attendants outside the cage in a battery box or queen bank they will be fine. some beeks i know let the attendants out of the cage before they try to introduce the queen to the hive.

[Chrissy Shaw]

There used to be much produced about letting attendants out of a cage when they arrive. That is best done indoors or in the cab of your vehicle in that the queen sometimes tries to leave too and a windshield is easier than flying after a lose queen. When i add attendants i try to get very young bees and in a mating nuc with fresh eggs and brood, the ones over the brood cells are generally youngest (not always) and picking them from cells there will give you overall, the youngest bees.

I have not yet used the battery cages with workers etc, but that seems a better way for larger orders.

Chrissy

[BjornBee]

Practice catching drones by the back of their wings. Then move on to workers and queens. Once you have the hang of it, it just comes natural and you'll think its not even worth thinking twice about.

Once you have caught the queen/workers, all you really need to do is get their head in the hole. 99% of the time they are more than eager to continue in the hole to get lose of your grip. I catch them with my thumb and pointer finger. As you get them near the hole, the middle finger is easy to slide forward and bump them in the rear to get them moving.

Have the candy and screen already in place. All you want to do when you have the queen and 5 or 6 attendants in the wooden cage is to place a cork in the entrance you just used. That being the non-candy side.

I don't mind any type of shipper. But I like the wooden cages for a couple reasons. One, they can sit for a week or more without much worry. The battery cages are HIGHLY suggested that you bank them as soon as you recieve them. Once banked, you need to open the bank up and remove what you need for that day. With the woden cage, I can grab what I need and go to out yards and not worry about loading up the battery shipping box with a number of attendants, etc. When I get a shipment in, and I need to break them up into what I need at various locations, its just easier to deal with wooden cages. But maybe thats just me.

[BjornBee]

And if your dealing with a bunch of orders of what I call "onesies and twosies", the wooden cages are the way to go. If I had minimum orders set at 50 or 100, I would probably go with plastic mini cages with attendants all around the outside.

I do not like banked queens. I don't like getting them, and I do not like selling them. I can tell by how much candy has been eaten and the loss (if any) of the attendants, indicating how long ago the (wooden)cage was made up. Thats hard to do with the mini cages.

[Aspera]

From a consumer standpoint, I really do not like the JZBZ cages, and try to avoid buying queens in them. If given the choice I will always ask for a regular cage or a CA mini (wooden) Just personal preference.

[CWBees]

I have a hair clip catcher to catch my queens but without it is it best to grab her by the wings as you would do with a worker? I am always afraid I am going to squish the queen if I handle her.

Is a queen muff similar to a queen marking tube?

[peggjam]

"Is a queen muff similar to a queen marking tube?"

If you watch football, a queenmuff is kinda like the hand warmers that the players use to warm their hands in, except it is larger and made of screen. You can put both hands inside it to work with the queen, without her getting out.

I like the plastic cages because I can just set it over the top of the queen, and when she climbs to the bottom, I can latch it closed and then pick the workers to put in with her. Much less risky for the queen, as I don't have to actually pick her up. They mail as well as the wooden cages, and are much easier to put into the hives, as you don't need to remove a frame to put them in. They also fit the shipper bars for large orders where you are going to use a battery box for shipping. All around the best cage for the money.

[Michael Bush]

Also, the plastic cages are skinny enough you don't have to remove a frame to put them in a hive. If you (carefully) put a toothpick through the cage you can hang it between two frames quite easily.

[Jeffzhear]

Oh, I like that idea, a toothpick! a nice tip, thanks

[CWBees]

I figure is some customers do not care for the plastic I would just go with wood.

[Yuleluder]

I think it is funny that some are so particular about the type of cage a queen comes in. Then again we are creatures of habit, and once we are use to something its almost shocking to get something new.

[peggjam]

I think it is funny that some are so particular about the type of cage a queen comes in. Then again we are creatures of habit, and once we are use to something its almost shocking to get something new.

Yeah, ani't that the truth.......

[CWBees]

I received wood quen cages from Kelly's. They have wax paper squares that come with them. You are supposed to use them with the queen candy. How should I do this? What is it supposed to do?

[peggjam]

You place the waxpaper over the hole you fill up with candy, it just goes on top, under the wire. I think it was ment to keep the girls from eating the candy from the wire side.