Just after some advice. After splitting a hive when is the best time to introduce a caged queen? Some say straight away, 24 hrs or even 3 days. I have just split my hive for the first time. Absolutely a wonderful sight to see the hive coming back to life. My dilemma now is I cant pick my new queen up until Monday. Have I made a mistake? Thank you for any input on this.
Hi, if you hive become hopelessly queenless they will accept a new queen. However if there is chances it could rear its own queen then they would kill the new queen you introduce.
You can go back into the hive in 8 days and destroy any queen cells and introduce your new queen then. You can put the cage in the hive and allow her to just exist but not unplug her so you can deal with all the queen cells.
I would recommend a little read on honey bee cycle would help understand.
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