Janez GREGORI

Janez POKLUKAR

Janez MIHELIČ

A queen is introduced directly among bees, normally in the place from which the old queen has been taken. This method is not questionable if a mature queen is added, which has been laying for at least three weeks and if the procedure of introduction is carried out with all-round favourable conditions for the acceptance of the queen. Some beekeepers remove the old queen, and after two hours introduce the new one at the hive entrance. The practice is known in direct introduction of coating the queen with honey or sugar syrup. In this case, while cleaning the queen, workers also remove some of the hairs from her body, so the queen looks older, more “used” than she really is.

A slightly unusual, but still successful method of introducing queens into multiple-storey hives is with the aid of a garden hose with a spray in which there is slightly stale and not to cold water. The queenless hives are opened in fine weather and the queen is released in the centre while the cell surface, where there are the most bees, is sprayed. During the spraying, which signifies for the bees something similar to strong rain, they withdraw with the queen among the combs. The hive is closed, the water runs from the hive at the entrance, and we mark on the hive that it has a new queen.

23 - We first remove a queen from a bee colony, then immediately sprinkle the hive thoroughly with lukewarm water. The queen is released directly among the bees.