Edit: Beekeeper1756 beat me by a nose in the reply, similar concept.
Your post is vague about what method you plan to use to introduce this new queen. Since no one else has waded in, I'll tell you what I might do if I were in your shoes.
I would not waste a queen trying to introduce her into a queenright colony. The workers will see the queen as an intruder as long as their queen is alive and laying. This is with all honey bees not just possible africanized bees. If you don't pinch the laying queen, knock down any and all emergence cells that appear for 8 days and intro a new queen as per normal procedure I'd say your chances are 0 or less.
You could:
- split the colony into 2-4 hives/ nucs.
- If possible leave hive in the original location queenless so any returning workers come to a queenless hive. (Of course if you see her during the splits, pinch her head off!!!)
- Knock down all the queen cells in the queenless splits for 8 days.
- Find and pinch the old queen after 4 days (She will be in the one with eggs in it) and leave them queenless for a few days,
- knock down all the emergence queen cells for 8 days (we do not want one of these to slip by and have the daughter of this problem queen heading the hive).
- Intro the queen into one of the splits after 24-48 hours of queenlessness and then (newspaper) combine the rest when she starts to lay.
This will give you a better chance.
This would give you less bees to deal with in each Hive and in the end you would have on complete hive. Good luck!!
Yes, it is time to get a veil w/ zipper jacket, gloves ,a good smoker, and some duct tape for your ankles, wrists and any holes around your veil. This project will be messy and once it is started you must be prepared to finish it!! You obviously live in AHB country and it would be remiss not to have this gear available and ready, to take care of problems when they arise.
Anyone else have a suggestion?
RKR