Came off easy.A queen breeder gave a talk at our bee club a couple years back and described his method for determining if the colony was ready to accept her.
He’d place her in a queen cage and place that cage in the colony for some hours (don’t recall but I think it was 12 hrs.). When he returned if the bees surrounding the cage brushed off like water then they were ready. If the were more like Velcro when brushed off then they were likely not ready for the new queen.
Good adviceIn the future, I'd suggest that you install the cage with the cork in and leave for a few days. Then, return and remove the cork.
You don't need any marshmallows.
I found the method of brushing workers off a cage to determine if the queen is accepted unreliable, especially in cooler temps. If you do try it, keep the queen cage handy so you can return her back to the cage quickly. Patience is the best method (5 or 6 days) if the colony wasn't queen less for long and there is no emerging brood to use a push in cage.A queen breeder gave a talk at our bee club a couple years back and described his method for determining if the colony was ready to accept her.
He’d place her in a queen cage and place that cage in the colony for some hours (don’t recall but I think it was 12 hrs.). When he returned if the bees surrounding the cage brushed off like water then they were ready. If the were more like Velcro when brushed off then they were likely not ready for the new queen.
My suggestion to leave the cork in for a few days is just to reduce the 'slim' chance that she won't be accepted.The chances the package has not been together for multiple days before reaching Northern Ill are pretty slim.
Not anymore.Wait, don't they have a candy inside under the Cork ?
That is what I thought they all had.
We order 2 -300 queens a year and all come with candy. I guess we better keep asking to make sure.Not anymore.
Tape over the candy so they can’t eat it away....The JZBZ caged queens I've gotten recently had candy. The problem is that the bees in the splits eat through it in less than 24 hours. In the case of splits...this is bad news as the acceptance rate plummets.