# Queen Caging Tips



## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

They are not as fragile as you may think. I catch them by the wing and then run their head into the JZ cages. Make sure she is running up into the cage, not down.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

snl said:


> Make sure she is running up into the cage, not down.


Well that's obvious. Now that you point it out.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

If you would just go straight in and catch her by her wings, she'll never see it coming and won't fly off.


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

I catch her by the wings with my right hand, hold her by the thorax in my left hand and mark her and then point her head first into the cage.

If she's facing in an awkward direction, I will gently touch her to get her moving in a direction where she is easier to grab.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I haven't grabbed a lot of them, but just snagging the wings seems to work pretty darn good.


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## Agis Apiaries (Jul 22, 2014)

The wing grab works great. If you are still nervous about doing it with your queen, you can practice with the workers until you are comfortable with it. I pick up workers that way all the time.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

I practiced with drones (no stinger). Now picking up queens by the wings seems much easier than any other method of catching them.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

David LaFerney said:


> At an instructional apiary session recently I had to retrieve one that flew down and was rapidly climbing up a woman's thigh. THAT was dignified.



Waiting for the video 

By the wings and straight into the cage (assuming she's already marked). I don't recommend brushing, nor do I usually move much from the hive. Be definitive, tentative grabs almost always fail. How's your eye sight? If marginal get some cheap reading glasses. I take the frame she's on lean it up against the hive, kneel down, and wait until she's in a "head's up position" come in from behind and grab her wings. How long after emergence are you caging them? Obviously the shorter that time the more frisky and likely they are to fly or scramble. If your schedule permits consider waiting an extra week - everyday slows them down a bit. This is something that practice dramatically improves.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

I generally leave them in the mating nuc for 3 weeks after the cell is placed. Quickly grabbing them from behind by the wings is what I try to do - try being the operative word. When I set the frame down to wait until she gets pointed in the right direction they usually head to the other side of the frame.

I *am* getting better at it - I especially am learning that they aren't as fragile as you would think. Otherwise I would have mangled a bunch of them.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

Do you folks wear any type of glove while doing his? I swell up like like a puffer fish when I get stung! Do nitrile exam gloves work. They aren't thick but bees are less inclined to sting when I am wearing them.
Have any of you killed a queen, ripped her wings or legs off while doing this?

OMG always new things to try.


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## beedeetee (Nov 27, 2004)

I went from normally using gloves to almost never using gloves when I started raising queens. There are too many things that you can't (very easily) do with them on. I do get stung sometimes, but my hands don't swell up any more. There is a recent thread where I told of having to insert cells with gloves after being stung 4-6 times per mating nuc when it was 49 and raining. So it can be done, but it's much easier without gloves. Honestly I can't even tell where I've been stung after a couple of minutes on my hands anymore. Sometimes a knuckle will feel stiff for a while.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

WBVC said:


> Do you folks wear any type of glove while doing his?


I guess it's like picking your nose while wearing gloves.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

I catch her by the wing, then put her into a hollow fist. To cage her I put the cage above my fist with the hole facing sown.....if she is stubborn I breathe a little into the bottom of my fist.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

Hey Mike....that reminds me, I have to return those gloves you loaned me.....:lookout:


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## BeeGhost (May 7, 2011)

wbvc,

I experienced the same thing with my hands swelling up badly when getting stung!! Im not sure about now since I have been stung a lot lately and most of the time its not even visible after an hour or so and doesn't itch at all anymore. I am going to graft some cells today and will be trying to place them gloveless when the cells are ripe, if I get stung I will see how the hands react, if its bad Im thinking of cutting about 1" off the tips of the nitrile gloves on the thumb and fore finger, see if that will help as well. Im trying to breed to get my hives toned down a bit!!


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

I use playtex gloves when placing cells as I always place cells in brood. They are just nimble enough to work just fine. However when catching queens, it's always bare handed.


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## mtndewluvr (Oct 28, 2012)

Thanks, David LaFerney, for asking the hard questions. I'm right there with you, and like others, I've taken stings and really don't swell up or itch afterwards any longer, but there's something about the anticipation of where you're going to get hit next and whether or not you're going to scream like a child, or end up inventing new ninja moves.

Also, thanks for the write-up on Q rearing on your site. It suits me perfectly and I've just started using it.


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Michael Palmer said:


> If you would just go straight in and catch her by her wings, she'll never see it coming and won't fly off.


I had a queen to mark this morning and I have been timid when grabbing them, partly because I have never had any extra queens to replace one with. I decided to just grab her and get it over with. I pinned her to the comb, not too forcefully but enough to make sure I had both wing, then transferred her to my right hand, then dabbed a big dot of blue testors pen paint on her thorax. I let her crawl around on my hand for a minute then put her back on the comb. Bees took back to her like nothing happened. 

Thanks for the thread, and the replies giving me new found confidence and experience.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

deknow said:


> Hey Mike....that reminds me, I have to return those gloves you loaned me.....:lookout:


I did?


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## NanEakle (Feb 12, 2015)

Today - I was trying to cage a queen and she flew up and away. Has anyone ever had a mated queen come back to the hive?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Yup wing hollow hand trick. I like to add a few young bees with her, that's the harder part...


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

NanEakle said:


> Today - I was trying to cage a queen and she flew up and away. Has anyone ever had a mated queen come back to the hive?


Most likely she will come back. I've had something like that happen several times and the queen always came back. Sometimes they can't really fly very well and will land on the ground - so don't step on her by accident. When that happens there will soon be a knot of bees on/around her, making her easier to find.


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## Sunday Farmer (Nov 13, 2013)

Yea. That sucks. I lost a couple of my boss' queens. I now do them all in the truck. After last week much better at handling them, but easier catching it against a windshield than jumping in the air.


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