> Question for anybody who has ordered queens thru mail:   How long is
> it safe to keep caged queens which have arrived in the mail, prior
> to introduction to a colony?  Are they OK for a few days, generally,
> with good acceptance afterwards?  The weather has been lousy.
 
Depends on the condition of the queens -- how well they travelled,
and how long they were banked before they were shipped.
 
Given a drop of water from time to time and kept at cool room
temperatures, they may be fine for a week or more.
 
I'm assuming they are with attendants and have sufficient (soft)
candy.  They condition of the attendants tells a lot.  If all are
vigourous, then you have time.  If one o5r more are dead, your time
is running out fast.
 
To extend the storage time, you can do a number of things...
 
Change the attendants:  Take several *young* bees and exchange them
for the attendants.
 
Place them in a queen right hive on the top bars:  If the weather is
bad, then the bees may not appreciate the gesture and tear the feet
off the queens, so make sure you feed therm first , and know what
you are doing .  Make sure the candy is not exposed to the hive bees  --
there should be a plug over it.
 
(We've done the latter often with no problem as long as the queens are
included in the cluster when temperatures drop at night and the bees
withdraw to the brood area.
 
Use a queen bank:  This is more elaborate and you might want to
consult a book.
 
Make small nucs:  A frame of emerging brood with no bees will accept
the queen directly.  It does not need flight for a week or so, thus
can be in  a closed nuc box stored inside until needed, then
combined into a colony.
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0
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Honey. Bees, & Art <http://www.internode.net/~allend/>