> I'm wondering how long mated queens can be banked in cages within a queen banking hive that is properly maintained.

Graham Kleinschmidt did research here in Australia many years ago.  He recommended banking for only 20 - 25 days.  Part of the paper says "Queen bees banked in quiet hives that were fed pollen and sugar ad lib survived for 65 days without body damage that could be observed under ten magnifications but only 64% of these queen performed well when introduced to colonies.  This indicates that another factor may be involved and in this research that factor appeared to be queen pheromone level.  Between 20 and 40 days queen bee pheromone from banks of 40 queen bees decreased to a level too low to inhibit laying workers and the attempted production of virgin queens from laying worker larva.  This occurred in banks that did not damage the arolium or other external parts of the queens.  Larval age indicated that pheromone level allowed this worker be action between days 30 and 35."

Trevor Weatherhead
Australia

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