# Queen flying ability?



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, absolutely!
A new mated queen that is not laying yet can still fly. Just take a look at the
newly shipped mated queen. I had 2 that flew away last year and came back.
A virgin can fly really fast too. Hopefully she will come back for you like mine did.


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## BackYardPhenomena (Jul 11, 2012)

I've had flighty queens and they take off when I'm marking. They've always returned so I can finish the job later. The virgins certainly fly better and the laying queen flies more like a fat chicken.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Twice last year I saw Queens from splits take from the frame! No a happy occurrence. I thought if I left the top open with all the fanning and commotion going on they would return...unfortunately in my case they did not.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I bought a queen that I wanted to be extra care with so I put her on bee less frame of emerging brood with a 6 by 8 inch push in cage. Three days later with her laying up a storm I pulled the push in cage and watched that little red fluorescent dot til it went out of sight! I stood there for a half hour to see if she would come back, she didn't. I scattered the bees from that nuc all over the grass out by her last observed location to see if I could get a clump in the grass, I didn't. 

It is why when releasing caged queens I always do it with about three frames removed down at the bottom so the queen can scuttle under the frames or I can remove the push in cage from the bottom out and up. There are always those can do types, so you are safest being as safe as possible.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Must be a special queen, Vance.
It would be better to lift at the corner of the
cage to make a small hole for her to crawl out.
Thanks for the learning experience.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

new mated queens are still a bit jumpy. They arn't fat with eggs yet. I've had them fly off but they always return.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I had queens that are big and fat after mated. They can still fly
away in a heart beat. These are the well fed strong queens that I
will keep. They usually return when I found them the next day.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

The ones I have had fly away either returned in 30 minutes or they did not ever return. My average is 50% returned. I stopped opening the screen on the Benton cage and started letting the bees chew through the candy to release the queen. I always wait to expose the candy until I see that the bees are happy with the new queen.

If I have transferred the queen from the Benton cage to a home made hardware cloth cage I make sure to keep my finger over the exit until I get it started between the frames. The queen usually stays in the top of the cage until it is down inside the space between the frames and then she is usually out within 10 seconds.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Queens can fly. Mated queens. Virgin queens. Caged queens. Virgins can fly the best. Caged queens have usually slimmed down enough that they can fly really well. Mated and laying queens are the worst and some can't get more than a few feet, but some can fly just fine. My feral stock queens tend to fly pretty far and pretty easily if you aren't careful.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Michael Bush said:


> Queens can fly. Mated queens. Virgin queens. Caged queens. Virgins can fly the best. Caged queens have usually slimmed down enough that they can fly really well. Mated and laying queens are the worst and some can't get more than a few feet, but some can fly just fine. My feral stock queens tend to fly pretty far and pretty easily if you aren't careful.


what he said. ;-)


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

The Myth that mated queens can't fly is overblown. Just so happens that most don't. Doesn't mean they can't.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I come to the conclusion that all queen bees both a virgin and a mated one can fly.
Whether or not a mated queen want to fly is up to her. For sure a virgin will fly for her mating flight.


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## Scpossum (May 4, 2014)

I did notice the queens tonight that have started laying slowed waaaay down when moving on the frames than a week ago. Hopefully the other ones will mate tomorrow when the sun returns.


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