Queen Won't Leave Cage

[bmaule]

I am a new beekeeper, just have two hives. Anyway, the queens that came with the two nucs I purchased have not left their cages. The problem may have been created by me initially. I did not understand that there was a secondary hard candy plug below the plastic cap. So, after 3 days I returned to look in the hive and the queens in both hives were still in their cages, alive but still in the cage. I removed rest of the plug and returned the cages to the hive. 12 hours later they were still in their cage. My question is: Do I have to do anything to get the queens out of the cage?

[Allen Dick]

Welcome!

I am surprised the queens were not already free in the nucs, since good nucs should have had a laying queen for a week or so before sale to ensure the queens are settled -- and good.

The only concern is that the nuc may have built queen cells while effectively queenless. Ideally, you should go through frame by frame, look for queen cells, and break down any you find.

If the queens have been in the cages for three days, you could probably release them immediately, but for a beginner, that could be daunting, especially since there is always a chance the queen could fly, and, if you do go through the hives looking for cells, it would be best if the hives have a few hours to settle before the queens get loose.

IMO, the best thing is to take a small nail and push a hole through the candy just about big enough for the bees to crawl though, then replace the queen cage in the hive. The bees should release her in a few hours afterwards and all should be well. When making the hole, be sure that any candy debris falls to the far end of th queen cage and does not block the hole you made.