3.0 PRACTICE OF BEEKEEPING
The candidate will be:
3.11 able to describe a simple method of queen introduction;
NOTES
The first rule of queen introduction is to be sure that there is no queen already in the hive.
The next rule is that the queen should be protected from the workers when she is introduced at first. This is usually achieved by putting the queen in some sort of cage that she can escape from in due course. There are various designs of queen introduction cage but all will have ventilation gaps through which the queen and workers can smell and feel each other, and an exit that is blocked with paper or fondant that the bees will eat through in a short time. The cage is small enough to be pushed in between two frames.
The queen is placed in the cage and the exit blocked. The cage is placed between two frames in the brood box. After a week, inspect the colony to see that the queen is laying and remove the cage.