[Duncan151]

I have seen several videos that show people just plucking queens and attendant bees off of a frame to put in a queen cage. How do you do that? Are you catching the wings, the sides of the bees, two fingers, or three? I know that I can try trial and error, but would rather not kill a queen, or get stung the first dozen times that I try something new. I do realize that I can practice on drones, I just do not have too many yet.

 

[UTvolshype]

I have seen several videos that show people just plucking queens and attendant bees off of a frame to put in a queen cage. How do you do that? Are you catching the wings, the sides of the bees, two fingers, or three? I know that I can try trial and error, but would rather not kill a queen, or get stung the first dozen times that I try something new. I do realize that I can practice on drones, I just do not have too many yet.

I tried it this spring with disposable latex gloves and had no problems with new queens and attendants. Try catching drones first to get the touch down pat.

 

[Broke-T]

Catch the wings. It gets easier with practice.

Johnny

 

[burns375]

wings, use bare hands if possible.

 

[Brad Bee]

No fun in practicing with drones. Practice with workers. If you do it wrong, you get negative reinforcement from them. If you get stung when you do it wrong, you'll learn faster.

 

[Duncan151]

Thank you all for the replies! burns375, I have never worn gloves around my bees so that is covered. Brad Bee, I do understand the negative feed back loop! LOL Looks like all that is left to do is to give it a try! Thanks