Queen in a Cage

During late spring hives are actively swarming or being divided by beekeepers. A queen-right colony has a mixture of eggs, larvae and pupa in various stages of development. In a queenless colony, this brood cycle is interrupted until the queen can be raised, mated, start laying eggs, and have the first batch of brood emerge. Left to their own devices, a colony will raise their own new queen provided that the hive has fertilized eggs available from a previous queen. However, this process takes 16 days until the hatching of the new queen, and 28 days in total (plus or minus a few depending on several factors) until the new queen is laying. The new eggs then take another 20 days to emerge. That 50 day interruption can put a pinch on a colony due to Canada's shorter warm and fair weather season. To assist a hive beekeepers will often introduce a mated queen to a queenless colony.

Finding a local mated queen can be a challenge because local queens are not available until after the swarming season is underway. To alleviate this, beekeepers will introduce imported queens. Imported queens are often replaced eventually by the colony raising their own queen, but at least the brood cycle isn't interrupted during this period. That can have an advantageous effect on the colony.

Queens can be imported into Canada from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, USA, and Chile. Importers face strict regulations to protect Canadian bee stocks from introduced disease, pests, and negative behavioral traits. The most commonly imported queens in British Columbia are Hawaiian queens.

The most common method of introducing a queen into a colony is through the use of a queen cage. A queen cage is a small screened compartment containing a queen, food, and some attendant bees. The cage is placed in between frames inside the hive, and left to rest for several days to allow the queen to become familiarized to the hive through the release of her pheromones. After a period of time, she will be released to the colony. Most queen cages have a plug of edible sugar. The colony bees and the queen can eat their way to a proper introduction!

Here is a queen and attendants in her cage

Queen and attendants in queen cage