On Mon, 26 Apr 2004, Don Campbell wrote: "I'm having some queens delivered
the end of this week...I need to store some of them for 7 to 10 days...I'm
looking for the best way to store the caged queens for this time period."

Don,

There are several things that you can do:

First, call the queen breeder ASAP and set back the shipping date. Most
queen breeders will understand your situation and work with you as they
really want your queens to survive and prosper.

In lieu of rescheduling several conditions should be considered:

1) Do you have at least one hive(s) available to bank your caged queens
and is it strong enough to carry out this task?

2) Are hives subject to clustering temperatures?

3) How many queens do you need to bank?

4) Just how long must those queens be banked?


With the above in mind the following might help:

If you do not have a hive available you will need to keep the queens in a
warm, dark place. Temperature is important as your queens must not be
chilled nor be too warm and dry. Storage temperatures of around 68-75
degrees work well. Upon arrival draw a fresh cup of water and with the tip
of your finger take off a drop of water and spread it across the screen-or
plastic ventilation holes of the cage.  The attendants in the cages will
tell you just how much water they need, but do not give too much water at
once, just a drop at a time and usually they will not need more than three
drops total in a day. You should give water in this manner once a day
until you are able to install your queens in the manner that you intended.
I have had fairly good results for up to 10 days with this method, but I
give caution as this does put stress on your queens that may have an
effect down the road.

One very important consideration is number two (2) above, "Are hives
subject to clustering temperatures?" Tonight, on April 27th the
temperature will fall here to about 38 degrees which will assure
clustering, I would imagine that in upstate New York you will have periods
of cold weather for still quite some time. During cluster the brood nest
is warm and protected as much as possible by all available workers within
the hive. As temperatures decrease the cluster becomes more compact and
brood left outside the compacted cluster will chill and die. If you place
queens in a hive to be banked outside the cluster they will chill and die.
If you intend to bank queens inside a hive when weather conditions are
such that clustering may occur then it is imperative that the queens be
placed within the middle of the brood nest.  In addition catch the
resident queen and if you wish to keep her cage her and place her in with
the other caged queens being careful to avoid placing cages in such
proximity that any one queen could sting and kill another.  If the
resident queen is allowed to run free you just may find  queens dead in
cages having been stung and killed by the resident mother.

Any one hive has only just so much capacity to safely protect and feed its
brood and the additional queens that you may have banked. The stronger the
hive the greater its banking capacity.  You have to use some judgment here
to determine banking capacity per hive as there are many factors and
variables that must be considered including number of queens, size of
queen cages, methods of storing cages inside the cluster, strength of
hive, etc, etc.. Remember, as temperatures fall clustering becomes a
factor and the size of the cluster must be large enough to protect your
banked queens as well as a substantial amount of brood.

Another factor to consider is just how long are you planning to bank your
queens. A queen in a cage along with attendants will not survive being
banked as long as a queen in a cage without attendants. The attendants
will usually die first which leaves the queen by herself with a bunch of
dead decaying workers. Its best to bank your queens without attendants.
Also, a solitary queen is easier to gain acceptance when introducing her
to her new home.

In warmer weather queens can be banked above the brood nest separated by a
queen excluder. You still need a hive strong enough to support the queens
that you are banking.

Banking is temporary, but you can keep queens banked for a month or longer
if needed given you have taken the right steps to assure that your queens
will be well taken care of by their surrogate tellers who have invested
their time and interest in order to assure continued care and viability of
your queens. One more thing, thank those workers when you take that queen
out and make a withdrawal; they have done both you and your queen an
immense favor simply by offering their charity.


Chuck Norton
Norton's Nut & Honey Farm
Reidsville, NC

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