Updated Virgin Queen Introduction Protocol

The Stevens Method of virgin queen introduction was born out of failures to introduce freshly inseminated queens that were 10 days old. This method was developed in the spring of 2015 after learning to inseminate queen honey bees from Sue Cobey in 2014. The bees had lovingly cared for my prized breeder queens to be in their cages prior to insemination, but to my frustration routinely decided to murder them once they were released from the protection of their queen cage. Each time a crime scene investigation was performed. And each time emergency queen cells were discovered on the brood frames. In a move to "outsmart" the bees, I strategically waited 7-9 days after removing the queen, and cut all the emergency queen cells from the brood frames before installing freshly inseminated queens the following day. This would allow the young larvae they loved to raise emergency queens from to age out past the age they are able to develop into a queen. Surprisingly, the acceptance rate went through the roof once the colonies had no other option but to accept the queen they had been presented with. Later when I was pondering how I had "outsmarted" the bees, it dawned on me that I was reproducing a natural queen introduction scenario. When a colony is wanting to swarm, the old queen, in order to slim down for flight, stops laying eggs. Her ovaries shrink as she prepares to fly off with the swarm. Most of the time, when natural queen cells begin to emerge after swarming, there are no longer eggs or young larvae. The Stevens Method of virgin queen introduction mimics the natural queen introduction scenario. It works for virgin queens, freshly inseminated queens, mated queens, or queen cells. It's an extra step to remove emergency queen cells, but the introduction success is much more reliable.

If possible, make the colonies queenless 7-9 days before the arrival of the queens. The best nucleus colonies contain at least a frame of honey and pollen, a good frame of capped brood, and a couple extra shakes of bees. Adding more brood frames or stores gives them more momentum. Dense bee coverage on those frames is highly recommended. I generally feed these colonies thin syrup (2 parts water to 1 part sugar) to reduce stress, stimulate them to build comb, and to build nutrition in preparation for the new queen to lay. Nucleus colonies should be scattered around obvious landmarks (trees, shrubs, rocks) with their entrances pointed different directions for easy orientation for the new queens. The day prior to the queens arriving (7-9 days after the nucleus was made up), shake or brush all the bees off the brood frames. Destroy ALL emergency queen cells. If weather or fate hosed your best efforts to make colonies up 7-9 days early, there is an alternate method. Tape over the queen candy tube with duct tape or electrical tape. Wait the remainder of the 7-9 day queenless period, and cut all queen cells. Remove the tape on the queen cage candy immediately, or the following day.

When the virgin queens arrive, place them in the colony ASAP so the workers can feed and water them (even if they are not hopelessly queenless yet, detailed in the alternate method above). Place the queen cage in the center of the colony where the majority of the bees cluster. Make sure the end of the candy tube is not blocked, to allow the queen to exit the cage once the candy is consumed. When the bees are allowed access to my queen cage candy, queens are generally released approximately 24 hrs later. Do not dig through or inspect the colony for approximately 2.5 weeks to allow her to lay and establish her brood nest without interruption. Continue to feed thin syrup. After 3 weeks, any colonies where queen introduction has failed need to be combined with successful colonies. Shake the bees off the comb and distribute it among successful colonies to avoid losing valuable drawn comb to wax moths or hive beetles.

There is risk in open mating, so it is recommended to buy a few more queens than needed. We often add extras to orders just in case as we guarantee live delivery. With "the Stevens method" it is quite common to get 80+ percent mating success with our virgin queens. The colonies our queens head should be quite productive, and be some of the most mite resistant bees currently available on the market. Good luck!!