I have a question for a friend beekeeper who is not on Bee-L.  He has a failing queen (poor brood pattern with a lot of drone cells) and he's getting a new queen.  He would like to save the old queen (no heart to kill her) as a back-up until the new queen has been accepted.

It occured to me that the following set-up could work:

1. leave the old queen in the lower box and cover it with a queen excluder
2. put on the upper box with all the brood frames in it
3. place the caged new queen in between the brood frames in the upper box for an indirect method release

We still get cold days on Long Island (30's and 40's F intermingled with 50's & 60's F) and, if the bees cluster spanning both boxes, I am afraid that they will either abandon the old queen or kill the new one.

Has anyone attempted this kind of introduction method?  Could it work or should a fellow beekeeper not even attempt it.

Thank you.

Waldemar

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