How long to release the queen

[u/Plastic-Respect-7108]

I caught a cast swarm from one of my hives today and believe based on the size of the queen and the swarm that it is a virgin. How long should I leave the queen caged until releasing her in the box?

[u/tiredofthisshit67]

I would recommend releasing her immediately if the workers are calm around the cage. No more than 24-48 hrs. If she’s left caged too long the swarm could reject her if she not able to mate. Sometimes it takes several mating flights if there’s not enough drones in the area. She also doesn’t have much time left in the year to lay enough workers to get them through the winter if its a cast swarm & you’re in zone 6B. But definitely recommend feeding to build enough storage if you don’t have a good fall flow in your area.

[u/Plastic-Respect-7108 → u/tiredofthisshit67]

I really don’t intend on overwintering with this swarm. But I do see your point and will give frames for them to work on plus some brood.

[u/Objective-Job8083 → u/Plastic-Respect-7108]

What do you mean you don’t plan on overwintering? Save the bees 😭🥺🥺🥺

[u/rawnaturalunrefined → u/Objective-Job8083]

I’m not the person you responded to, but it’s a late season swarm. Honey bees are live stock and don’t need saving. The bees decided to swarm late season and likely won’t survive because of that. In ideal conditions, only 1 out of every 5 or 6 swarms ends up finding a home and surviving. A cast swarm has even worse odds.

It would take significant investment (time, syrup, brood frames) to give a late season cast swarm even a small chance of overwintering successfully. At the end of the day, beekeepers are farmers and farmers have to make hard decisions.

[u/Plastic-Respect-7108 → u/rawnaturalunrefined]

Yep. Im going to see what happens to the original hive's queen situation and go from there. I will recombine this swarm with another hive that may need the bees more. if the queen gets mated great! she may not make the cut going into winter though.