How to introduce a mated queen into a beehive UK

Using the following method, it’s almost certain that the queen will be accepted. Like with anything in nature, it’s hard to guarantee that they will always be accepted, however, this is an almost fool-proof method.

It’s a simple 4-stage process, that should be started 7 days before you’re queen is due to arrive.

Day 1. (7 days before the queen is due to arrive).

Establish what you’d like to achieve. Either:

A. Replace a queen.
If you’d like to replace a dud or angry colonies queen start by killing the existing queen.

B. Create a split with the queen.

Establish a new colony with the mated queen – making two from the one existing hive.

If you choose Option B. create a split from the existing hive taking at least:

o   1 frame of brood (two sides of brood). This is the minimum it’s best to take 2-3 frames.
Mostly capped (between 50-60%). It’s also good to include some uncapped larvae and eggs too. This will help ensure less of a brood gap between the old queen’s brood and the new queens.

o   1 frame of food. Capped honey or uncapped nectar. Or take little to no food but feed them syrup or fondant.

o   A generous shaking of bees. This can be achieved by taking a brood frame and shaking it off into the hive. If you are doing this in the early part of the year (April-May), you will want to add more bees to make sure that the brood is kept warm. 

An example of a good brood frame to take. 

Then either:

A. Keeping in the current apiary.
Rotate the hive 180 degrees (to face the opposite way to the current hive). You can also loosely bung up the door of the hive with grass. This will obscure the bees and cause them to reorient. The aim here is to prevent the original colony's bees going back to their old hive.

B.    Moving to a new apiary.
Move the split to a different apiary that is greater the three miles away. If it’s not 3 miles away, as far away from the source apiary as possible. The closer the apiary, the more likely bees will return to the original hive and vice versa. 

Day 7 – Queen arrives.

• Shake all the bees from the frames and check for queen cells. A firm downward motion to shake the bees from the frame (don't worry, this doesn't hurt them).
• Fully destroy these using a hive tool or your finger. It’s vitally important to kill all these queen cells. If you leave even one cell, the queen will likely not be accepted.
• Look closely for queen cells as they will only be small at this stage.
• Destroy all capped and uncapped queen cells.
• Add the queen into the colony, but don’t open the fondant door yet.
• Don't remove the sticker covering the door. This is designed to stop the bees from prematurely eating the fondant. 
• Place her between the two central brood frames and use a stick through the top eyelet of the cage to hold her suspended between the frames.

 Queen cell (waiting to be destroyed) in the centre.

Day 10 – Release the queen.

• Remove the plastic door from the cage. Using a hive tool, tear through the sticker and remove the yellow plastic tab, revealing the fondant below.
• Be careful not to undo the sliding main door of the queen cage. 
• The bees will chew through the fondant and release the queen within a few hours.
• Reposition the cage back between the two central brood frames. 

The queen cage with the sticker torn and the yellow plastic tab removed. Ready to be put back into the hive. 

Day 14 - Inspect for successful introduction.

1. Spot the queen making sure she has successfully left the cage.
2. Look for eggs in the cells. These can’t be the old queen’s eggs, as they will be too old at this stage.
3. If there are no eggs on day 14, check again on day 17, as it can take a little while for the queen to get used to her new hive.
   

Eggs are shown in the middle-right corner of the image.