Transferring Queen Cells
Lexikon
Caging queen cells means placing capped queen cells in cages so that the queen that emerges first does not sting the others to death.
Caging queen cells means placing capped queen cells in cages so that the queen that emerges first does not sting the others to death. For this, a hatching cage is placed over each cell, often with a small food supply, so that the queen that emerges stays inside.
Caging is done on the day after capping or shortly before emergence. Ripening queen cells are sensitive to vibration in the days before, so the rearing frame is moved as little as possible.
There are three options. The capped cell is removed on the first day after capping and hung into a queenless colony or split; it remains in the cell-raising colony and is caged there; or it goes into a cage with a few attendant bees and a food tube in an incubator at a constant 35 degrees.
About eight days after caging, the emerged queens are introduced into the mating units. Anyone who waits too long wastes time, because the young queens have to complete their mating flights within a limited time window.