Queen Introduction Cage – Medium
$34.95
This Queen Introduction Cage holds a single medium Langstroth-sized frame and is designed to keep your new queen safe as you introduce her into an established colony.
Narrow bar spacing (3.25mm) prevents both the queen and workers from entering or leaving the cage, entirely isolating the queen on a frame. The cage top has a folded metal edge to ensure bees cannot come or go without prior beekeeper approval.
NOTE: These are NOT the same product as our Frame Isolation Cages. Frame Isolation Cages are made with bars spaced like queen excluders, which means that queens cannot pass through but workers can.
This Queen Introduction Cage has narrower bars, and NO bees can move through them. These similar-looking cages are used for very different beekeeping purposes, and should not be confused with one another.
To introduce a queen with the Queen Introduction Cage, use the same principles as a Push-In Cage:
- Find a frame that contains nectar, pollen, and capped brood (including emerging brood) and brush or gently shake all of the bees off of it.
- Place the completely bee-free frame inside the cage and put the lid on, then move it away from the hive.
- Observe the frame inside the cage for a couple of minutes to make sure no additional bees were hidden on the frame and are now crawling around inside the cage. If there are any, make sure to remove them.
- Once you’re certain the frame has no mature workers, carefully remove your new queen from her cage and gently insert her into the open Queen Introduction Cage, between the top bar and the side of the cage. (Inserting the queen at the top removes the risk of hurting her as you slide the frame up and down along the walls of the cage.)
- Then carefully replace the lid on the cage, and be sure NOT to crush your queen!
- Lower the closed cage gently into the hive. The cage can be used in a 10-frame hive with 9 additional uncaged frames, but it is often much easier if you remove an extra frame (two total) to make additional space while the cage is being used.
- In a few days (3 to 5), carefully remove the frame and observe what’s going on inside the cage. Make sure the queen is laying eggs and that she’s also being cared for by the newly emerged young nurse bees.
- If the queen is healthy and no aggression is seen from the bees outside the cage, the cage can be removed and the frame can be reinserted into the hive, with the queen completely accepted by all of the workers.
Product Specifications:
Outside Dimensions
- Top bar cover length: 19-1/8″
- Top bar cover width: 2-1/4″
- Top bar cover height: 7/16″
- Comb area length: 18-1/8″
- Comb area width: 2-3/16″
- Comb area height: 6-5/8″
Inside Dimensions
- Top bar cover length: 19″
- Top bar cover width: 1-3/4″
- Top bar cover height: 3/8″
- Comb area length: 18-1/8″
- Comb area width: 1-3/4″
- Comb area height: 6-9/16″
The Queen Introduction Cage is manufactured from steel with alu-zinc coating.
