> Some 65 different methods have been described by which beekeepers can introduce a queen (Snelgrove, 1940; Johansson and Johansson, 1971; Ruttner, 1983). Despite these many options, the most commonly given advice on queen introduction both in beekeeping books and on the internet is, however, to use cages. 

> The method of direct introduction with smoke is only mentioned in two of the books consulted (Snelgrove, 1940; Laidlaw and Page, 1997), but on none of the web pages. Our results show, however, that direct introduction with smoke can give 100% acceptance.

> One possible reason why beekeepers normally use a method of queen introduction that is not the best method is that, for the most part, beekeeping is not based on using methods that have been carefully compared with alternatives in scientific experiments. Rather, beekeeping is largely based on doing what experience has shown to work.

> Direct introduction gives almost 100% acceptance when hives have been queenless for 2 days or more.

J Antonio Perez-Sato, Martin H. Kärcher, William O H Hughes & Francis L W Ratnieks (2008) Direct introduction of mated and virgin queens using smoke: a method that gives almost 100% acceptance when hives have been queenless for 2 days or more, Journal of Apicultural Research, 47:4, 243-250

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html