I've gotten things underway to rear 50 or so queens for my own
use this spring and summer.  I'm doing some grafting as well as
trying Miller strips.  I may be holding some of the queens in a
"nursery" above a queen excluder as well as transporting some of
them in queen cages with workers and candy.
 
I read the discussions earlier about candy for queen cages, but I
really don't care to make any up.  I thought I'd try some of the
over-the-counter candy to see what might be satisfactory.  I made
up five 3-hole queen cages. I stocked each cage with one type of
candy and five worker bees.  I used the following types of candy:
 
      Caramel:  a block of caramel that is wrapped in cellophane.
 
      Cream Caramel:  a round slice of caramel that has a center
of white powdered sugar type stuff.
 
      Circus Peanut:  an orange, soft candy
 
      Fruit Slices:  a jelly-type candy with sugar crystals on
the outside.  They are produced in various flavors... I used an
orange slice and a lemon slice.
 
I realize that these candies are not found worldwide, but there
may well be similar types.  I wonder how the Japanese rice candy,
"moshi" if I remember correctly, would work???
 
One trial doesn't constitute a very good experiment, but so far
it seems that the fruit slices, lemon in particular, work well.
The circus peanut seems to be used readily.  The caramel is
taken, but it is dense and would last a long, long time...too
long in my opinion.  The cream caramel was strange: four of the
five workers I placed in the cage with it were dead within an
hour, the other worker is doing well.  I need to replicate the
trial with cream caramel...and the other candies as well if I
want meaningful results.  So far most of the workers have lived
about three days on these candies.
 
I'm sure that there are a number of beekeepers on BEE-L who have
done what I'm doing with different candies.  I would enjoy
hearing of your experiences.  I don't want to start a thread that
would bring down the wrath of a netcop on me, so if you would
just post directly to me I would be grateful.
 
Best wishes for a good honeyflow this year.
 
Cordially yours,
 
Jim
 
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  |  James D. Satterfield        |  E-Mail: [log in to unmask]      |
  |  P.O. Box 2243                ------------------------------
  |  Decatur, GA 30031, USA        258 Ridge Pine Drive        |
  |  S.E. United States        or  Canton, GA 30114, USA       |
  |  Telephone (404) 378-8917      Telephone (770) 479-4784    |
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