[B]Queens to go[B]

[Jon]

Not, I hasten to add, the sign of a misspent youth ...

Worse still if it is a misspent middle age!

I have never washed my queen crack pipe either and it does not seem to annoy the queens or the workers.
I find it useful for getting a queen out of an apidea especially if she is on the side wall.

At one point I thought it would be better just to pick up queens for marking and clipping but in terms of teaching a group of people, I think the pipe or the plunger cage are good tools for moving queens about, clipping and marking.
A lot of people will never be comfortable picking up or handling a queen but it is important that they learn to clip and mark by themselves without having to phone a friend every time.
So I think these tools have their use.
Not everyone has the same level of dexterity or confidence handling queens and I think moving marking or clipping using one of these tools is a massive improvement over not being able to do it all all.
It is one of the most rewarding things in the queenrearing group when you see people acquire skills they did not have before.

[Kate Atchley]

... Need to dispense with any glove thicker than a mm or so ...

I agree re the gloves Gavin.

Somewhere I heard/read that (bee hookers') crack pipes become scented with queen pheromone with use, and so more attractive to queens and bees you are catching. If so, I guess it'd be best not to wash them.

[Jon]

The scent is not that relevant an issue with the pipe. The key skills are (a) placing the pipe end over the queen as she walks on the comb (b) lifting it up when she moves up the wall of the pipe and getting your thumb over the entrance to block her in (c) getting the narrow end of the pipe lined up with a small opening in the introduction cage so that she walks in. Some cages have a better design than others with a little slot just the width of a queen. If the cage opens the entire width, the queen can leave the pipe and get straight out of the cage.

This style is good. When you open the slide to put in the queen it exposes a narrow slot and she cannot slip out the side. It is opened too much in this picture. The plastic cover should be opened just to the bottom of the slot.
queen cage witrh fondant.jpg

Compare it to this one.
Some of them have a similar design to a matchbox.
cheap-queen-cage.jpg
If you use the pipe the queen can get straight out through the gap.

[drumgerry]

Loading a queen from the pipe into a JZ BZ queen cage available here http://buzzybeeshop.co.uk/page5.html is really easy. Just let her walk down the pipe and into the long end of the queen cage. Plug with candy behind her and job done.

Or plug the long end with candy and let her walk through the pipe and into the hole beside the long end. Snap the the little cover into the hole and job done.

[Jon]

I have never used those JZ BZ cages. Do they work well?

[mbc]

I have never used those JZ BZ cages. Do they work well?

They do work well, very handy cages indeed for posting, introduction and storage of queens.

My top tip for catching and loading attendant workers quickly is to pick them off a brood frame when they are head down having a feed, they dont see you coming !

re. the crack pipe, lol, you'd have to be a heavy smoker and quite wealthy to fill that bowl.

[drumgerry]

I really like them Jon. They are easy to use, well designed and cheap - for straightforward queen introduction where you're confident of success eg to a nuc. Here's a couple of better photos of them. There's a little break off tab at the bottom which creates a single queen excluder slot if you remove it.

JZBZ1.jpgJZBZ2.jpg

[Jon]

fatshark is clearly a man of considerable means and an all consuming addiction.

I like the look of those JZ BZ cages Gerry. I'll order a few and give them a try.

[mbc]

If you have a look at the buzzybee shop website ( I have always found Mark to be extremely helpfull, but it may take a while to get an answer to your emails because I dont think its his main line of work) they sell useful accessories to make them even handier, I like using the battery boxes for transporting lots of queens safely separated and secure.

[drumgerry]

I'll second that mbc. Great shop and brilliant service. In fact just bought 50 cages from there!