Introducing virgin queen is a really simple process. In agriculture, things sometimes don’t go as planned but if you follow these instructions, your chances for success increase greatly. And it is really easy.
1. Make sure you’re queenless.
It’s as simple as that. Make sure there is no queen in your hive, split, or nuc. They should be without a queen for about 8 hours or more.
2. Make sure there are no queen cells.
On the day you introduce your queen, go through and make sure there are no queen cells. If a virgin were to emerge from one of those queen cells, she could kill the queen you introduced.
3. Don’t poke a hole in the queen candy or do anything else to speed up the process.
Slow is the way to go. We want them to take some time releasing the virgin queen or the old cranky bees won’t treat her well. Leave the candy alone.
4. Place the queen cage between two frames of brood.
This is quite important. The bees are going to be where the brood is – feeding them. If the queen is away from the brood, the bees may not travel all the way over there to keep her warm and feed her. If you put the queen with the brood, she’s right where the bees, heat, and food are.
5. Close it up and leave it alone.
Put that top on and walk away. Leave them be for about 5 days. After the five days, go in and remove the queen cage. Then leave them alone again.
6. Wait 15 days and check for eggs and brood.
You should be seeing eggs or just hatched larvae (might not see the larvae but you should see a little puddle of royal jelly) or you might see some older brood. If you don’t see eggs or brood, something happened. Contact me for a new queen.