Hi Jim & all

> Releasing the attendants is made more difficult with these
> JZ/BZ plastic cages for a number of reasons:

I only used the JZ/BZ cage for introduction on 14 occasions. 11 of these
were successful, but I think it is so long ago that I did not bother about
the attendants at that time. I have only been in the habit of religiously
removing attendants for about 15 years.

Two of the occasions that the JZ/BZ cages were used was for the introduction
of virgins, no attendants used and only a very small amount of candy in the
long spout.

I have heard discussion about performing the removal in the front seat of a
car or truck (facing the sun) so that any escaped queen can be picked easily
off the windscreen and popped back in the cage. I have practiced this and it
works, but more recently I have changed my introduction method completely
over to the Steve Taber/Albert Knight/ John Dews method
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/queenintro.html#ak_st_jd

This requires the release of all attendants and the transfer of the queen
into a butler cage for controlled release by the beekeeper.
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/obsboard.html

I do the worker release and queen transfer over the nuc concerned in the
apiary. The attendants fly away (I would sooner collect them and destroy
them, but my main concern is the queen which may well be specimen breeder
queen backed up by years of II and be very valuable). Some of these freed
workers do fly to the transparent window (I presume they can smell the bees
inside the nuc) and they can be despatched.

My reasoning for doing it over the nuc is that if the queen escapes she most
likely will flutter down onto the specially prepared observation board.
Flying for the queens concerned may be possible, but is unlikely as most of
the queens concerned are elderly, none are ever less than one year old.

This way the queen is not out of contact with worker bees for more than a
few seconds.

Truly simple attendant removal occurs with the Nicot plastic mailing cage as
the lid is slid back just enough for the workers to escape but the queen
cannot.
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/gif/nicotplastic.gif
The same principle can be applied to the Queen's Puzzle cage
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/gif/puzzlecage.gif

But to get back to Jim's original question...

> Does anyone have any great ideas on how to release attendants
> from these JZ/BZ cages with style and panache, without releasing
> the queen in error, or do we need to demand that queen suppliers
> use the wooden type until the makers of the plastic ones start
> making them from clear plastic?

I think the answer to this lies in the gardening department of your nearest
superstore, I reckon that a medium or large sized plastic plant propagator
could have a hand sized hole cut in one side so that you could open the cage
with impunity and if the queen came out she would be within easy reach to
put back.

Disadvantage would be another piece of kit to hump around :-(


Best Regards & 73s, Dave Cushman... G8MZY
Beekeeping & Bee Breeding Website
Email: [log in to unmask] or  [log in to unmask]
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman & http://www.dave-cushman.net

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::