Jim asked,
> What extra protection does the plastic cage afford the
> queen over the wood cage?

I can't really say.  Both times I discovered live JZ/BZ caged queens in
queen-right colonies I was peeking in a little early to assess acceptance.
Both times the queens were unharmed in the JZ/BZ cage with the candy still
in the tube.  Both times I discovered the split was queen-right based on
eggs in brood combs.  Obviously the eggs didn't come from the caged queen,
so I did a meticulous inspection and finally found the original queen.  Both
times I peekeed after only 3 days (I usually wait a week).  Both times the
JZ/BZ caged queen was spared!

So, extra protection?  Dunno, but definitely less surface exposure.  If I'm
using a wooden cage, I make sure there is at least one Pierco frame in the
split.  I insert the wooden cage face/screen down between the Pierco and
neighboring wooden frame.  The flexibility of the Pierco frame allows room,
but it's tight (you really have to torque that frame).  Inserted thusly, the
queen is exposed on the entire screen surface.  Contrast that to a queen in
the JZ/BZ cage which is placed between two frames.  The sides of the JZ/BZ
are "sealed" by the beeswax surfaces of the frames.  The only exposure of
queen to bees in the JZ/BZ cage are the slits on the curved sides (much less
surface area than the face of the screen in a wooden cage).  That's the best
SWAG I can take.

Obviously, "Both" does not constitute a large enough test case to make any
valid conclusions, and a hypothesis that the JZ/BZ cages offer better
protection to caged queens in a queen-right nuc is not something I am
purposely going to study.  But on the two occasions when I screwed up this
spring, I thought, "Hmmm, these JZ/BZ cages aren't so bad!"  Was it the
cages?  I don't know.  Maybe it was checking after 3 days, but I've found
dead queens after 3 days in wooden cages, so I focused on what was different
- the JZ/BZ cage.  FWIW.

Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!

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