How to Introduce a New Queen Bee Without Mistakes
You have a new queen in her cage and the colony hums a few centimetres away. It looks like the easy part, yet it is the most delicate moment of all: here is how to introduce her without losing her.
You have bought a new queen, perhaps a fine mated queen of a selected strain, and now you are holding her in her little cage. The colony hums a few centimetres away. It looks like the easy part, after all: open up, put her in, close up. And yet this is exactly where everything is decided.
Introducing a queen is not a mechanical gesture. It is the most delicate moment of the whole operation, the one in which a colony either welcomes the newcomer or kills her within a few hours. Knowing how it works, and above all having the patience to respect the timing, makes the difference between a successful requeening and a lost queen.
When you really need to introduce a new queen
There are essentially three situations, and it is worth being clear about them because they change the way you proceed.
The first is a colony left queenless: the old queen has died, been lost or has stopped laying. The second is deliberate requeening, when you decide to replace an old queen, one that lays poorly or has traits you are not happy with. The third is starting a new nucleus or managing a swarm, where the queen has to be introduced to a group of bees that does not know her.
In every case the underlying principle is the same. Bees recognise their queen by scent. A foreign queen, with a different pheromone, is at first perceived as an intruder. Our job is to give them time to get used to her before they can reach her.
The real risk: a foreign queen gets killed
Let us say it plainly. If you take a new queen and release her loose into a colony that has not yet accepted her, in most cases the workers surround her, squeeze her into a tight ball and kill her. It even has a name: balling.
It is not cruelty, it is defence. For those bees, at that moment, that queen is not theirs. The whole introduction method exists to avoid this reaction, buying the days needed for her scent to become familiar.
First rule: the colony must truly be queenless
This is the mistake that ruins more introductions than any other. A colony accepts a new queen only if it does not already have one, and only if it is not trying to raise one of its own.
If you are replacing an old queen, you must first find her and remove her. Then it is best to wait: many beekeepers let a few hours pass, usually up to a full day, before adding the new one. The colony senses the absence, becomes ready to accept a queen, and the newcomer finds much more favourable ground.
There is one check you cannot skip, though: queen cells. If the colony has realised it is queenless, it may already have started raising an emergency queen from a larva. As long as those cells are there, the new queen will never be accepted. They must be searched for on every frame and removed before you proceed.
The cage and the candy plug
The safest method, and the one we always recommend to those with little experience, is introduction with a slow-release cage.
The queen arrives shut in a small cage, often with a few attendant workers. One end of the cage is sealed with a candy plug, that is, solid sugar. The idea is simple and elegant: you wedge the cage between two frames of brood, with the mesh facing the bees, and let them do the rest.
Over the following days the colony's workers and the queen smell each other through the mesh, exchange pheromones and grow accustomed. Meanwhile, from the outside, the bees slowly eat the candy. When the plug is consumed, usually after two or three days, the queen comes out by herself. And by then, if enough time has passed, she is no longer a stranger: she is their queen.
Step by step, without rushing
In practice, the operation follows a precise rhythm. First you remove the old queen, if there is one, and check for the absence of queen cells. Then you place the cage between the central frames, in the brood area, where the temperature is right and the bees are most numerous.
Make sure the candy hole is not blocked and that the queen can move. Then close up the hive and, this is the hardest part, leave it alone.
The temptation to reopen the next day to see how it is going is very strong. It is also the best way to ruin everything. Every opening disturbs the colony, chills the brood and can interrupt the acceptance process just as it is working.
Gradual or direct release: when to choose which
Gradual release with the candy is the more prudent route and works almost always, especially for beginners.
There is also direct release, where the queen is freed straight into the colony. It is a faster technique but far riskier, and it makes sense only in particular conditions: young colonies, just made queenless, handled by experienced hands that can read the bees' behaviour. For a beginner the game is not worth the candle. Better a few extra days of waiting than a lost queen.
How to tell if the queen has been accepted
A few days after she has probably left the cage, the moment for a check arrives. And it must be done gently, looking for the right signs.
The most reassuring sign is not even seeing the queen: it is the eggs. If you find fresh eggs laid neatly in the centre of the cells, it means the queen is free, accepted and already at work. It is the best proof that everything went well.
Watch the attitude of the bees around her too, if you see her. Calm workers that tend and groom her are a good sign. Aggressive bees forming a tight cluster around the queen are, instead, a warning: the colony is still rejecting her.
The mistakes that cost you the queen
Those introducing a queen for the first few times tend to slip up at the same points. Knowing them in advance avoids almost all failures.
The first is being in a hurry: freeing the queen too soon, or taking her out of the cage by hand because the bees seem calm. Gradualness serves exactly this purpose and must not be forced.
The second is not having checked for queen cells, and ending up with a new queen rejected because the colony was already raising another.
The third is opening constantly out of curiosity, disturbing a process that needs calm and steady temperature. The fourth, more subtle, is introducing a queen into a stressed, hungry colony or during a period with no nectar flow: in those conditions bees are less inclined to welcome a new queen.
Timing and feeding matter
Bees accept a new queen more willingly when they are doing well. A colony with sufficient stores, in a season with at least a little nectar coming in, is a calm colony, and a calm colony forgives more easily.
In lean periods, a little supportive feeding during the days of the introduction can help create the right mood. It is not an iron rule, but it is a measure that, combined with respecting the timing, noticeably raises the chances of success.
How we help you start with the right queen
We at Apicoltura Laterza raise and select our queens in our own apiaries. When you receive one of our mated queen bees, you also receive the practical guidance to introduce her correctly, suited to your specific situation.
Because a quality queen is an excellent starting point, but it is the way you introduce her that decides whether that quality will really reach your colony. If you have a doubt before proceeding, call us: better one extra question than a lost queen.
In short
Introducing a new queen without errors means above all one thing: giving the bees time. Make sure the colony is truly queenless and free of queen cells, use the slow-release cage with the candy plug, place the queen in the centre of the brood and then have the patience not to disturb.
The sign that everything went well will come on its own, in the form of fresh, neatly laid eggs. At that point the new queen is no longer a stranger but the heart of your colony. And you will have learned one of the most important operations in all of beekeeping.
The right queen, introduced the right way
Mated queen bees raised and selected in our apiaries, ready for your hive. We explain step by step how to introduce them safely: tell us your situation and we will guide you.
