[Logan]

So I have 3 queens coming. Thanks to some robbing, I don't have enough stuff yet to do the splits I wanted to do. I thought I would start a queen bank, then I could come and get the queens when the bees are ready to split. How long will they stay viable in the queen bank? How long can I leave them in there before I have to worry that they might not start laying?

 

[blueskybeesupply]

The one thing that concerns us about banking queens too long, is that the tarsal pads can be damaged by the cage/nipping workers. The damage will lead to a decrease in "footprint" pheromone and that is why banked queens are often superceded.