It is quite true, unless there is available open honey or nectar, or attendant worker bees to feed them they won't last very long. Queens can eat honey/nectar from honeycomb cells, and they'll sometimes try to eat from queen cage candy (perhaps with some success), but even under the best alternate situation, they need attendants to properly care for them. Even with available feed (queen cage candy), I wouldn't expect a queen to survive for more than a few hours, unless she had several attendants and candy to feed those attendants.
Queen Question
Last week I picked up a new queen from a beekeeper I know.
I did not have time to install her the same day. I left the cage on
The counter in my heated honey house. The next day I went to
Install her she was dead. There were no other bees in the cage with her.
The beekeeper told me I should have installed her the same day
He told me a queen will only live a few hours if she is all alone with out
Some attending bees. This I did not know. If it is true It cost me a Queen.
Harold.
I did not have time to install her the same day. I left the cage on
The counter in my heated honey house. The next day I went to
Install her she was dead. There were no other bees in the cage with her.
The beekeeper told me I should have installed her the same day
He told me a queen will only live a few hours if she is all alone with out
Some attending bees. This I did not know. If it is true It cost me a Queen.
Harold.
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
Shouldnt the queen have come with 3-6 attendants.?? If not (which I'd still find a lil strange) could he have spread some honey on the cage in the meanwhile??
3 years ago I tried giving the Queen some honey like that
What happened was the Queen got it stuck to her wings and stuck to the
side of the cage. Another dead Queen
Like they say, live and learn.
What happened was the Queen got it stuck to her wings and stuck to the
side of the cage. Another dead Queen
Like they say, live and learn.
I ordered a queen last year that arrived before I was ready. When she came, 3 of the 6 attendants were dead in the cage. The other 3 attendants died over the next 24-36 hours. I removed all the dead attendants so the queen was alone in the cage, and successfully kept her alive for another 5 days by smearing small drops of water and honey on the cage screen each day. Maybe I had some beginner's luck on my side.
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
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