Queen Acceptance Trick

[Bee Boy]

I went to a bee keepers seminar and they said for good accpetance of a new queen when you are requeening is to smash the old queen on the new        cage. The smell gets all over the new queen and its speeds up the accpetance rate.


Bee Boy

[Jerrymac]

I read where one guy just squishes the queen in the hive where ever he might find her. This way the bees know she is dead and that they need a new queen.

 Take her out and do the dirty deed and for all the bees know she is some where in the hive until her scent disipates.

[Robo]

I went to a bee keepers seminar and they said for good accpetance of a new queen when you are requeening is to smash the old queen on the new        cage. The smell gets all over the new queen and its speeds up the accpetance rate.


Bee Boy

Ya that's an old trick.  Only problem is,  what if your new queen is not accepted or is a dud.  I like the double screen board,  I then have the old queen to fall back on if the new one doesn't work out.

[Horns Pure Honey]

That was in Bee Keeping for Dumbies.

[Michael Bush]

I also prefer to have some queens to fall back on if things don't go well, but when I do the queen in I dump her in a jar of alcohol.  After you get a lot of queens it there, it works as a good swarm lure for bait hives.

I haven't every tried squishing the old queen on the new cage, but then I seldom have had acceptance problems either.  Only really hot hives and laying worker hives have ever been a problem.  Then I find a nuc with the queen on a double screen board for few days and then a newspaper combine usually will work.

[Bee Boy]

I tried,lol

Thats ok i thought it was a neat idea though....

[East Texas Pine Rooter]

I like your idea of saving the old queen until the new one is accepted.  Where do you keep the old queen while the tranformation is taking place?  What is a double screen board, and where is it located?  Want her scent still be in the hive?