[greengecko]

When requeening a Russian colony with a mated Russian queen, is the standard candy plug delay sufficient or is it necessary to use an extended acclimation period?

 

[fish_stix]

Standard cage/candy plug works good.

 

[longrangedog]

Insure at least 3 days caged before release. I usually wait 4 before exposing the candy or releasing directly. Why expose yourself to the increased chance of failure for a few days?

 

[acb's]

greengecko,
This is our 8th year with Russians. From my experience I would recommend queenless for a day or two and a push-in cage over some about to hatch brood. Usually within 3 days they've released the queen themselves by chewing around the bottom of the cage. The cage will be loose between the frames and the queen will be laying like she's always been there. Felt comfortable enough with this method to successfully introduce a high dollar breeder queen this way a few years back.
Good luck with your requeening.
Arvin

 

[theriverhawk]

When requeening, I always pinch the old queen and wait 12-24 hours. Have never had a problem. Each time I introduce the new caged queen, I set her down on top of the frames and allow a group of bees to attach. If they are sticking their tongues thru the cage, I place it in the hive and let them clear the sugar away over a couple of days. If they bite the cage, I wait another 12 hours. Usually after the next 12 hours they are begging for a queen and accept her will loving wings.

 

[mothergoosemagic]

Arvin, are you manually releasing the queen into the push in cage or leaving her in her container? My Russian came in a EZBZ with the orange plastic cap. I'm not quite understanding how she would be released this way.

 

[fish_stix]

If using an introduction cage you release the queen into the cage. Place it on a frame so that it covers a few cells of emerging brood, a little nectar and some empty cells for her to lay in. I go ahead and push the cage in where I want it then lift it enough to get the queen in, then push it back into the comb. Do this in a closed area so your queen can't fly away; my truck cab works good! Place the frame between 2 frames of brood, and you'll probably have to remove 1 frame temporarily. All this is not necessary for a standard intro, just use the JZBZ cage.

 

[acb's]

Sorry, mothergoosemagic, didn't get back to this thread until today, but looks like fish_stix answered for me. It does take a little more effort to get her from the EZBZ into the push-in cage, but the success rate I get is worth it to me.
Arvin

 

[mothergoosemagic]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

I wound up kind of doing both as I wanted some eggs that I absolutely knew their age for a try at queen rearing.

Yesterday I made the confinement cage and cut a small flap in one side so I could stick the tube part of the EZBZ thru that (after taking off the orange cap, of course). I didn't have any emerging brood, so I captured a dozen or so workers under the confinement cage along with some new comb and a little honey along one edge.

They've been waggling and feeding her thru the EZBZ since Friday morning. There's still about half the candy left in the tube, so I'm figuring they should have her out & into the laying cage *maybe* today, but most likely tomorrow. I plan to release her as soon as I can spot some eggs--a lot easier since I will know exactly where to look.

 

[acb's]

mothergoosemagic,
I had to smile at your idea about using the EZBZ cage and push-in cage combination. I loved the creativity. A different beekeeper, a different method . Would you please let me know how that worked out for you.
Arvin