Wooden queen introduction cage

Queen Introduction Cage for Queen Introduction

Classic beekeeping queen introduction cage. The wooden queen introduction cage is designed so that holes with a diameter of 35 mm are located in the side part and are covered with wire mesh. At the bottom of the cage there are holes intended for inserting a temporary closure made of candy paste. Once you insert the candy paste into the hole, the hole is closed with a plastic lid with a passage hole with a diameter of 8 mm, through which the bees chew their way to the queen. The release of the queen bee takes about two days. The hole for inserting the queen is closable with a cork.

Queen replacement in a colony begins with removing the old queen, followed by introducing the new queen. The worker bees of the colony where you want to insert the new queen will initially try to kill the new queen because they will consider her a foreign bee. The acceptance of the new queen then depends on the conditions in the colony. Younger bees accept the queen more readily than older bees. Smaller groups of bees also accept the queen better than larger groups. A colony will accept its queen better when she is the same age. A colony reluctantly accepts its queen during robbing periods, but readily accepts her during nectar flow. Beekeepers usually time queen replacement for nectar flow periods, i.e., in spring or autumn. However, worker bees will not accept a new queen if the old queen is present in the colony, so it is essential to first remove the old queen. If there are capped queen cells in the colony, you must examine them carefully when removing them, because a new queen could emerge from them. The introduction cage is therefore a standard tool when introducing a queen. The holes in the cage can be sealed with candy paste.

Dimensions: 13 x 7 cm.