[beebad]

Can I add a queen to a new split or do I have to wait a while for them to sense they are queenless?

 

[aran]

Can I add a queen to a new split or do I have to wait a while for them to sense they are queenless?

ive done it after an hour or two queenless and have had no issues. I think the bees realize very quickly that they have no queen.
If you are worried use a push in cage.

 

[beemandan]

If there are eggs or very young larvae with the split, it is wise to wait 5 or 6 days before introducing the new queen. At the same time you would go through the split carefully and remove any emergency cells.
You get a better acceptance rate with a hopelessly queenless colony.

 

[beebad]

I have never risked a direct release and always use the transport cage..it makes sense to wait a while to remove as much of the chance for disaster as possible....thanks

ive done it after an hour or two queenless and have had no issues. I think the bees realize very quickly that they have no queen.
If you are worried use a push in cage.

 

[Bdfarmer555]

Did 42 splits last month, pulled the splits, drove to the new locations (15-30 minutes) and put the new caged queens in. Came back in 10 days and had 83% success, 5 of the 7 that didn't take the queen I provided apparently had swarm cells already started that I missed, but those are laying now. The other 2, no telling.

 

[beemandan]

I did 40 splits the first week of April and added new queens at the time of the splits. I didn't follow my own advice. A week later when I checked I found 3 that had not accepted the new queens. All 3 had emergency cells.