The Queen in Chanhassen

May 16, 2011

Since both queens are in the same plastic box with their attendants, Ben had to separate the queens cages using a french wooden pickle tongs!

Now we were ready to put the new queen in Chanhassen, in our divide. This queen is a MN hygienic which has been bred at the University of Minnesota by Dr. Marla Spivak and her team.

 I placed the queen in my bee suit pocket to keep her warm until we can put her in her new hive. We have removed the little cork plug, and inserted a candy plug instead. Ben pierced a little hole in the candy so the bees have the "idea" to eat the candy to release their queen. This method is called the  slow release: it takes few days for the bees to go through the candy plug and in the meantime the queen is fed by them. During those  few days, the queen  gives away her pheromone scent to the colony and thus has a better chance to be accepted by all.

                                                                               

When we got to the apiary, we could hear the bees buzzing loudly...a sign that there is no queen present at the moment. We placed the queen on top of the frames, and right away some curious bees cam to investigate.

Then the queen cage was inserted between 2 frames. Now we let Nature takes its course. We will come back to check on her release in 5 to 7 days.