# Introducing Virgin Queens



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Dave D. said:


> Are there any particular problems or procedures with introducing virgin queens into nucs with standard introduction cages? Will the bees release such an unmated queen promptly or will they tend to ignor her? Attendent bees a help or a hindrance? I scanned the archive but did not notice any old threads dealing with this.


Virgins don't need attendants, they can feed themselves, just need to keep them warm. Introducing virgins is one of the harder things to do, success is difficult, but do able. You need to make sure there are no queen cells in the nuc you are giving the virgin to. I usually check for queen cells, then put the virgin in, then 2 or so days later, I will again check for queen cells. I release the virgin manually after 5 days. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I have introduced some successfully on occasion, but not reliably.

Also:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdoolittle.htm#CHAPTER17
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingsimplified.htm#c16
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesalleymethod.htm#introducing_virgin_queens


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Dave D. said:


> Are there any particular problems or procedures with introducing virgin queens into nucs with standard introduction cages? Will the bees release such an unmated queen promptly or will they tend to ignor her? Attendent bees a help or a hindrance? I scanned the archive but did not notice any old threads dealing with this.


I have been backed up in taking my queens from the grafting bars once or twice in the past. Knowing they were hatching out, I placed a hair-curler type queen cage over the wooden cell base, and allowed them to emerge. I then, within hours, placed them in nucs. Then I left them for a couple days, and released them. I'm not sure the percentage, but it did seem lower than when I could just place a queen cell two days prior to the queen emerging.

Other than that, I see little practical sense in ordering, and using/introducing virgin queens. I have heard that others have purchased virgins so they could locally mate them. But for me, the timing involved, the introduction, and queen loss in mating, and quality, make this as about the worst way of requeening, etc.

Bees do for the most part ignore the virgin queen. I have never introduced a virgin queen with attendants.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Why don't you just let her loose into the hive? I've seen plenty of virgins emerging from swarm cells. They don't seem to have any problems.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Dave D. said:


> Are there any particular problems or procedures with introducing virgin queens into nucs with standard introduction cages? Will the bees release such an unmated queen promptly or will they tend to ignor her? Attendent bees a help or a hindrance? I scanned the archive but did not notice any old threads dealing with this.


We did talk about this last year. I don't have time to go look up the thread. I ended up with about a 67% success rate introducing the virgins. By the time I did the math... I would probably have been better off buying mated queens for the same money. They are easier to introduce.


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