Hi: One of our large commercial beekeepers has used Queen push-in cages for decades. I use them in our research hives, particulary when re-queening colonies in mid-summer (we don't like to sustain the two week to get a new queen, several days for her to start laying, approximately three week brood break, so we re-queen colonies that have lost their queens - which seems to be more common in mite infested colonies). Getting the queen out of the shipping cage and into the push-in cage can be troublesome. One year, I was demonstrating the technique and one queen helped by racing out of the shipping cage and flying off over my shoulder, never to be seen again. The Montana Commercial Beekeeper used the following trick to transfer the queen. He carried a clear, squat, water glass (like restaurants often use for ice water). The glass should be slightly taller than the cage in which the queen is shipped. Fill the glass with warm (tepid) water. To tranfer the queen, he would ease back the staples holding the screen, then submerge the cage with the queen in it into the water. Having "dunked" the queen, he would flip the screen open, and tip the queen out onto the comb, then press in the "push-in" cage. The idea was that momentarily submerging the queen in warm water somewhat disoriented her and wet her wings, making it difficult for her to fly. When dipping the queen, use a smooth, gentle dip, just in and out. Don't plunge the cage in and yank it out (banging the queen about). Likewise, don't leave her under water any longer than it takes to get her wet (you don't want to drown her). Bob Talcott used this technique to re-queen his operation of 1200 - 1500 colonies. Cheers Jerry Bromenshenk The University of Montana [log in to unmask]