A queen cage is a small, temporary enclosure, often constructed from wood, wire mesh, or plastic, roughly the size of a small matchbox. This confinement facilitates the safe transportation of a queen from a breeder to a beekeeper. Caging is also the standard method for introducing a new queen into a colony, allowing the hive’s worker bees time to acclimate to her unique scent before she is released to begin laying.
Standard Survival Limits
The duration a queen can survive in a cage is limited. For standard mailing and transportation, a queen, accompanied by attendant bees, is typically expected to survive for three to seven days. This period covers most shipping times and the initial days of introduction into a new hive.
Under highly controlled or “banked” conditions, where multiple caged queens are held within a queenless colony, survival can be extended. In these optimized environments, a queen may be kept alive for seven to ten days. However, prolonged caging beyond seven days negatively affects the queen by delaying her egg-laying and decreasing the potency of her pheromones, which reduces her acceptance and future productivity.
Essential Environmental Factors
Maintaining a stable physical environment is essential for maximizing a queen’s survival time. Temperature control is a primary concern, as high heat generated during shipping or storage can quickly become fatal. While a hive maintains a core temperature near 33 degrees Celsius, the safe range for a caged queen’s sperm viability extends from approximately 15 to 38 degrees Celsius.
The cage must be kept in a dark, draft-free location to minimize stress and prevent rapid chilling or overheating. Food, known as queen candy, is provided in a plug within the cage, consisting of powdered sugar and honey or corn syrup. Since the shipping cage lacks natural water sources, moisture is important; adding a small drop of water to the screen twice daily helps prevent dehydration of the bees.
The Critical Function of Attendant Bees
The presence of attendant bees, typically three to five young worker bees, is the most important factor determining a queen’s survival in a cage. These workers form a living support system that performs functions the queen cannot do herself. Attendants feed the queen a protein-rich substance, royal jelly, which sustains her metabolic needs, a nutritional requirement the simple sugar candy alone cannot fulfill.
The attendants also perform hygienic tasks, such as grooming the queen and removing her waste, which helps maintain a disease-free environment. Beyond physical care, the workers continuously interact with the queen, picking up her chemical signal, the queen mandibular pheromone. By circulating this pheromone, the attendants help regulate their own behavior and that of the receiving colony, signaling the queen’s presence and health. As caging time increases, the queen’s pheromone production can diminish, limiting the duration and making acceptance by a new colony more difficult.