One of the common concerns when installing a package is how long to keep the queen caged. Experienced beekeepers have very different philosophies on this subject, ranging from “just release her with the package” to “keep her confined 7 to 10 days.” Several readers have asked why I recommend 2-3 days.
You can’t make a hard and fast rule, partly because there are many unknowns. For example, you don’t know how long the queen and the bees in your package have been together. It will depend on several things, including how far they were shipped.
The primary reason I don’t wait 7 to 10 days is this: spring/summer adult bees live an average of 4-6 weeks which is about 28-42 days. You don’t know the ages of the bees that were packaged, but let’s say they average 4-5 days old. Some will be older, some younger, but on average they will be fairly young. Let’s add three days for shipping and make them 7-8 days old when you receive them. Now let’s say you add 7 days holding time for the queen, which means the workers are 14-15 days old before the queen is released.
The released queen may wait a few days before she starts to lay. Let’s say 3 days. Now your workers are 17-18 days old when the first egg is laid. So now add 21 days before the first worker brood starts to hatch. Now your original workers are 38-39 days old. Recall that your spring/summer workers are going to live an average of 28-42 days.
What is happening is that your original package has almost died off before your new bees start to hatch. Your colony will take a huge dip in population during this period in any case, but the longer you wait to release the queen, the worse it will get.
You want to have enough bees to care for the queen, build comb, prepare the nest, feed the larvae, defend the hive, keep the brood warm, collect water, pollen, nectar, and propolis . . . and perform all the other myriad hive tasks. So, although you want to be reasonably sure the queen will be accepted, you don’t want to run the colony numbers too low. This is why I advocate that you estimate how long the bees have been with their new queen, and then add a few days until it totals about 5-7. In my case, I estimate 3 days in transit and add another 2-3, then I release the queen. I’ve never had a queen rejected using this method, nor have I ever run a hive population so low it couldn’t easily recover.
Rusty
Hi Rusty,
I’ve never seen this occur before and I would like your advice.
I installed a package on Saturday. I checked the hive today and discovered that the queen was released. I’ve always pulled the cork upon installing the package and wait 3 days to check to see if the queen has been released. I had trouble locating the queen, until I saw the pile up of bees on one of the frames. From what little I know about “balling” I thought the workers balled themselves around the queen and smothered her.
What I saw was more of the queen on top of the pile with workers all around her. I did not intervene, because I wasn’t sure as to what I should do.
At this point, is a replacement queen in my future? I live in Ct. It’s too early for me to even graft from another hive. I’m sure I can obtain a replacement from GA. if needed.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Bruce
Interesting, Bruce.
My guess is that she will be okay. I saw something similar one time and I intervened by putting the queen back into an empty cage for a few days. But looking back, I don’t think they were trying to kill her as much as trying to get to know her. Especially if she was on top of the pile and not in the very center, I suspect she’s okay. Balling is pretty quick and violent; I don’t get a sense of that from what you say.
My advice would be to take another look–tomorrow, if possible. Whatever is going to happen has already happened. She’s either been accepted or not and there’s nothing else you can do at this point.
Let me know how it turns out.
Thanks Rusty, I thought the same. If they were or are gong to kill her, the damage is already done. I will take a look tomorrow.
I also want to thank you for your daily updates. I look forward to reading your articles about beekeeping. You should really write a book!
Thanks again!
Bruce
Hi Rusty,
It appears that the queen is now missing in action. I was unable to locate her today. The foragers don’t appear to be bringing in pollen and the hive is quite noisy. I also didn’t see any evidence of egg laying. I’ll try to check the hive again tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll make arrangements for a replacement queen. If I do find her, I’ll start up a nuc with the replacement.
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
That’s a bummer and I’m surprised. I really did think she would be okay. Let me know if something different happens. Did you happen to check the landing board? The times I have found killed queens they’ve always been left there. I don’t know whether they are too heavy to fly out, or if the bees are making some kind of statement: “Foreign queens are not welcome, so don’t even try it, you fool.”
Hi Rusty,
I did check the landing board and found only dead bees from the remnants of the packaged bees that didn’t make the journey.
I’m hoping I’m not going to have further issues introducing a new queen. I ended up in the hospital. I’m hoping I can put a replacement queen into the hive this weekend. I’m wondering if I should wait a couple of days before I pull the cork out? The queen has been in the cage longer than I would like; I wasn’t able to pick her up on Tuesday as planned.
I’m going to setup a queen bank as soon as possible. Most hives here in Connecticut only have capped drone cells, so it’s a little to early to start grafting.
Thank you again for your suggestions. I would happily pay to subscribe to Honey Bee Suite/ you’ve been more knowledgeable than most books I have purchased on beekeeping.
Bruce,
Definitely wait a few days before pulling the cork. She will be fine in the cage because they can tend to her through the screen. You want her scent to disperse before you release her.
And thank you for the vote of confidence!
What about how to release the queen?
I remember you saying before that it’s not necessary to remove the queen’s attendants from the queen cage. But I read in another book that the attendants should be removed first so that any aggression towards them isn’t transferred to the queen.
I requeened a colony last year and removed the attendants, but I’d be content never to do it again if the eventual risk to the queen in minimal.
Phillip,
Read this post about removing attendants and follow the link to Strachan Apiaries for their queen introduction write-up. I do not remove attendants and have not had a problem.