Bill Mares askes about replacing a queen by killing the old queen and
rubbing her on the new queen cage.  He asks if other have done this.
 
I have been finding the old queen and killing her by crushing her on the
new queen cage for 25 years.  Yes it does increase new queen acceptance.
Especially with fairly temperamental bees.  I've tried killing the old
queen and dropping her in the hive or tossing her out on the ground and
compared it with the crushing on new cage method.  I always get better
acceptance with the latter.
 
James C. Bach
State Apiarist
Yakima WA
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