Yesterday was a real eye-opener ... !
I've been slashing the sides of the Q/Cell and flaring it out slightly so that the virgin could then re-enter without risk of entrapment, thusly:
I then took the opportunity of adding a small amount of honey to the remaining RJ (at least some RJ being present in all cells). The virgins were then introduced to colonies within 24 hrs.
As a test, I took the opportunity to vary the destination colonies as much as possible:
A full-sized colony recently made Queenless
A full-sized Queenright colony (with less than desirable genetics)
A nuc-sized persistently Queenless colony (with no L/W evident)
And of course my troublesome large nuc-sized colony of unknown Q status - which is neither obviously queenless, nor is the queen laying after 7 weeks.
And finally, direct intro into a Nuc made-up less than 1 hr before.
In all cases the behaviour was the same: little or no reaction for around 10-15 seconds, then lots of very positive interest - both for the Q/Cell and it's occupant. In all but one case, the virgin had re-entered the cell-cup and was presumably scoffing away (although the Q/Cell could also be a 'comfort blanket' ?).
In total contrast to a normal <24hr virgin intro, where the virgin is more-or-less ignored, now there was much interest - all positive: fussing, licking and so forth.
Can't comment on eventual success (obviously) but as far as intro's go - those were spectacular.
Thanks Lauri.
LJ