Inspection of newly-queened splits and packages today
revealed a potential problem with queen cages for
commercial queens that might delay or cause problems
in queen release.

The "problem" was that the candy was covered with a
small sheet of what looks like parchment paper (as
used by bakers).

The intent seems to have been to prevent the candy
from softening and "melting" through the mesh on
the queen cage, but what I found in 3 cases was that
this paper was preventing queen release.

In each case, all (or nearly all) the candy had
been eaten away, but somehow, the paper had become
a "one-way door" of sorts.  Bees could enter the
queen cage, and push the paper up out of their
way on the way in, but walking towards the exit hole,
both workers and the queen tended to walk ON the paper,
and up to the screen at the top of the queen cage.
See the diagram below:

    ~~~ Queen Cage Side View Cut-Away ~~~

+-----------   <== Screen Top
|---\
|--+ \         <== Paper
|//|  \
|//|   \
+--+    \
         \     <== Exit Hole
+--+      \    <== Paper Blocking Exit Hole
|//|       \
+------------- <== Bottom of Queen Cage


From examination of the cages, it appears that the
bees ate away all the candy both behind the hole,
and to the left and right of the hole.  This left
a sheet of paper, weighted by the candy that was
above the level of the hole and stuck to the paper.

The paper apparently bent down under the weight,
creating the "one-way door".  The bees continued
to eat the candy away, but made no attempt to
eat the paper.  In one case, only the paper
remained, but it was still preventing the queen
from exiting the cage.


        jim

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