Question 1

What are the criteria to increase the acceptance rate of my new Queens?

Accepted Answer

- the family must have been orphaned for at least 48 hours and no more than a week;
- remove any royal cell: the presence of even one cell will not make the queen accepted;
- do not insert the cage into colonies with a virgin queen; the queen in the cage will not be accepted;
- families with egg-laying bees are not to be considered orphans and therefore will not accept the queen. In this case, dismember the family;
- families with a female queen will not accept the Queen in a cage: in this case it will be necessary to put her down. In this case too, wait 48 hours and then insert the Queen with her cage.
- the percentage of acceptance of the Queen drops in families that have been orphaned for more than a week. If there is no more capped brood, insert two combs of capped brood taken from another family, wait 24 hours and insert the cage between the two combs of capped brood;
- do not insert the cage into newly formed nuclei deriving from a single colony;
- do not place the cage in newly transported colonies;
- if the family is particularly aggressive the acceptance percentage drops drastically. In this case remove the tab on the side of the candy and close it with adhesive paper making a small hole with a toothpick thus delaying the Queen's exit time
- do not place the cage outside the brood chamber. The bees may not heat it in cold periods;
- giving the family some candy or syrup increases the acceptance rate;

Question 2

Why aren't virgins marked?

Accepted Answer

Marking is something unnatural for bees and could somehow affect the acceptance and/or fertilization of the Queens themselves. For this reason we only mark fertile Queens that have laid eggs for at least 10 days.