Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
- maybe, as you say, the size of the cage itself reduces the risk of balling
A queen occasionally gets stung (see gammy leg thread) but they are usually killed by balling and the cage prevents this.
I always use attendants from the colony the queen is taken from.
Loads of times I have seen a queen attacked by a couple of bees from another colony so I would rate that a bit risky.
If you put in newly emerged bees they will be happy with the first queen they encounter but as mentioned above, I don't know how well they feed the queen.
I think grooming is also important and you don't get grooming without attendants. I have seen the odd dead queen stuck in a piece of fondant or covered in honey.