Nicot Queen Introduction Cage

Introducing queen bees in beekeeping is one of the most difficult tasks. The hundreds of methods described in the literature do not provide a 100% guarantee that the queen bee will be accepted into a new colony. Good results can be achieved by confining the queen bee on the comb. To make this method easier to use, Nicot has developed a special cage for queen introduction.

The cage, with its fairly large dimensions of 148x130mm, allows it to cover a large area of comb. The 11mm cage height gives the queen bee (and the young bees emerging from the brood) complete freedom of movement. A large number of openings across the entire surface of the cage helps the bees quickly become accustomed to the new queen bee and improves the chances of successful acceptance.

To introduce a new queen bee, fill the feed compartment with feed candy. Place the cage on comb with emerging brood and cells containing honey. Fix the cage to the comb using the four pins supplied in the kit. For extra security, additionally fasten it with string or an elastic band. Introduce the queen bee through the opening and close it with the plug included in the delivery set. Young bees emerge from the brood under the cage and accept the queen bee (as they do not yet know another queen) and begin to tend her. After a few days, you can open the plug to give the bees limited access to the queen bee and allow the queen to leave the Nicot cage by herself. If you see bees trying to feed the queen through the cage, this also indicates a high chance of successful acceptance. Alternatively, you can leave the cover closed and wait until the bees remove all the feed candy and open access to the queen themselves.

Important: it is very important to follow the rules for positioning the comb with the queen introduction cage. There must be a distance of more than 8mm from the wall of the cage containing the introduced queen bee to allow free contact between the bees and the queen, and to help the scent of the new queen spread throughout the hive as quickly as possible.

Manufacturer: S.A.S. NICOTPLAST, Maisod, France (Nicot™, Nicot, France).