Hi to all on BEE-L
 Kyle wrote about introduction of virgin queens.

Yes we smoke them into our colonies by applying smoke in th
entrance until it comes out the top of the colony and then
release the virgins that act like a supercedure.

It is quick, there is no backtracking for queen cups or
cages and a few hundred a day can be smoked in.

However, we do not work with cages either plastic or
wooden. Nor are the virgins in contact with any other bees
prior to smoking into our colonies for requeening.

You do not want the virgins to pick up the scent of any
colony or worker bee prior to smoking in. You want her to
pick up the scent only of the hive she is going into so
only that hive and its smell is associated with her. This
gives for a much higher acceptance rate.

We raise our virgin queens in starter/finishers that
immediately upon capping over of the queen cells, they are
placed into incubators into 3 dram bottles for thevirgin
queens to emerge in.

Upon emergence the wax cells are bent over with finger and
granulated honey rubbed on lightly (don't want to drown
queens as honey picks up water from the indubator). We use
cheap styrofoam incubators like that used for chickens.

Upon emergence the queens are culled for the type we are
looking for and also for body conformity (no missing or
deformed parts- something you cannot see in cells). It's a
fast way to cull between yellow to black and various other
notable strain characteristics.

The faster the newly emerged queens are taken to the field
the better and smoked in. The longest we have held in
incubator is maybe 2-3 days, changing the bottles (12 hr
shifts).

In working with starter/finisher colonies it helps because
the down time is only 4-5 days and they are back together
rather than 10-12 or more the other way. This gives faster
turn around time for re-use of them later after a rest and
put back together.

Acceptance is good and we feel we get above 80% or more.

I like smoking in walking virgins. The workers of the new
colonies seem to not be bothered by them and can be seen in
many cases starting court almost immediately. Very rarely
(1 out of 100 maybe) do I see a virgin picked on walking
down into a colony.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby

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