REQUEENING QUESTION

[JRS]

If I were to order queens for my hives how far in advance is to far?What do you do to keep her alive?And how long can she go with out being in a colony? :-\

[Michael Bush]

>If I were to order queens for my hives how far in advance is to far?

Reserver or actually have her delivered?

>What do you do to keep her alive?

Assuming there are living attendants, a drop of water every day and make sure the candy in the cage doesn't run out.

>And how long can she go with out being in a colony?

With attendants, maybe a year.  But the attendants won't live that long and will have to be replaced from time to time.

[JRS]

I was going to have her delivered.how do you go about replacing the attendents and do they usually come with her?

[Michael Bush]

>I was going to have her delivered.

I would wait until you need her.

>how do you go about replacing the attendents

Your best bet is to buy a queen muff from Brushy Mt.

http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=264M

In here you can manipulate the queen, let out the workers without her escaping or catch her (inside the muff) if she does.

As far as putting attendants in the cage, I catch them by the base of the wing with tweezers while they have their head in a cell.  I push them head in the cage and wait for them to go in.

Another way is just to put the cage in a small beeproof box with some candy and some loose bees.  You can buy a battery cage from Mann Lake for this or make your own.

> and do they usually come with her?

Yes.