[beeMT]

today i noticed that one of my new nuc were balling the new queen - i placed the queen in a cage to avoid the bees from killing her
how long should i leave it in the there before i can safely let it out? thanks

 

[RudyT]

do a youtube search on Michael Palmer and you'll find a short video of how to determine if the bees have accepted the caged queen.

 

[bevy's honeybees]

I don't have an answer, I'm adding to your question because I had the same thing happen a couple weeks ago. I was inspecting a couple of my backyard hives when I saw a ball of bees in front of one of the hives I'd inspected. I moved bees to find a queen in the middle being attacked. I put her in a queen catcher and took her in the house, into a mesh bug holder with a couple other bees from a different hive. They did not attack her, but she died the next morning. The hive she was in front of still has a laying queen, so I have no idea where she came from.

My only guess is that they superseded her from a different hive I'd inspected. In fact, a different hive that had a failing queen, that same inspection I captured that queen because I saw a supercedure cell. That second queen was quite large, and now I wonder if I captured a newly mated queen from the hive and the balled queen was it's old queen. Does that make sense?

In any case, I suspect but I don't know for sure, that the balled queen was being superseded. I hope some experts answer these questions.

 

[Slow Drone]

If there are queen cells or any other queen present they will ball any queen you attempt to introduce. Carefully search for queen cells it's easy to miss one that has not been capped or has just been started.

 

[zhiv9]

Sometimes they ball the queen to protect her as well.

Is this a mated queen you just released?

 

[beeMT]

Sometimes they ball the queen to protect her as well.

Is this a mated queen you just released?

she emerged like 2 weeks ago (in the same hive) and just started to lay eggs some days ago and today i noticed the balling

 

[zhiv9]

she emerged like 2 weeks ago (in the same hive) and just started to lay eggs some days ago and today i noticed the balling

How often are you in the hive? Its best to leave them alone until there is open brood. After a split, I wouldn't check on them for 3 or 4 weeks. Disturbing them too much can cause them to blame the queen and ball her.

Wait until 3 days after you saw eggs and then release her. At that point there should be open brood and the workers will be more accepting.

 

[Slow Drone]

Sounds more as to what zhiv9 has stated. If they're not stinging the cage but feeding her through the screen you can probably release her. Safest to wait like zhiv9 says.

 

[beeMT]

thanks - i was opening the hive once a week to see that all is ok and to provide syrup
so i will open again in 3 days time to check if they accepted her
i forgot to mention that they were also making 2 queens cells with larva in

 

[Slow Drone]

If there's queen cells present they may still ball her. Just a word of caution. You may consider making up another nuc with her or just let nature run it's course.