On cagin queens

One of the most fun bee folks to watch on YouTube is a New Orleans guy called “JPthebeeman”.

I make reference to JP only because he is a good sport and knows his way around bees.   Fo sho.

This post illustrates though, how any two bee folks can be similar, yet still evolve different methods and approaches in working with bees.

JP and many other folks like to look for the queen in a swarm or cut out.  It’s almost like a sport, the thrill of the hunt.

I will look for the queen and cage her in certain situations.  If I think I got her and she is safe,  I let her be.   I don’t chase her down and cage her.

In a cut out or other live removal, it can be very helpful to find the queen if at all possible.  Caging her helps to draw all the other bees out of the hive to her, into the box you have prepared for them.

It’s also comforting for the beek (bee geek) to know that the queen is safe and not going to get hurt by falling comb or squished with a bee vac or something like that.

On the other hand, particularly in a swarm collection,  I don’t hunt her down if there is every indication she is there in the cluster and I am going to just shake them or clip the branch they are on.   I really see no need for it and I believe that it keeps the bees stress levels down if  I can keep their queen in their midst with them.  All so long as I feel sure she is there and not likely to get hurt.

Of course, that is true as well even with a cut out.  If  I can get her on a comb that  I am cutting out or even pick her up and place her in the capture box, that is usually good enough.

I say usually because there is a risk that she will fly right back into the nest I am removing.  It has happened.  Again, my belief and observation that a queen moving freely among the removed bees helps to minimize their stress levels makes it worth the effort to me to avoid caging her if at all possible.

If I am concerned about a feisty queen absconding or leaving the new hive, I will put a queen excluder over the entrance to the hive so that only workers can get in or out.  She has to stay put.  Hopefully, sooner than later, she will start laying eggs and they will start nest building and she will give up on the notion of leaving because there is a nest and brood to continue on with.

With bees, one can only hope.  They have been known to do what they want regardless of what we want.

I won’t give a hard time to anyone who attempts to cage the queen every time because there are plenty of good reasons to justify it and it’s their bees and their operation, not mine.

The beauty of working bees though is that there are no universal hard and fast rules really, except those dictated by bee biology and natural bee behavior.

I can do it my way and others can do it their way and we’re all calling it good.   At least,  I would hope we can.  There are some folks who like to be a bit more judgmental in their approach, but there are folks like that in every corner of the world.