Royalty On Her Own Time

Queens in transit. A few of her daughter workers are included to take care of her until she is released. 

We waited an extra few weeks. Then an extra 9 nerve-wracking days during which time the "receiver" colonies gave up and began to rear their own queens. Finally they arrived, our experimental stock from "local" breeder in southern Oregon. Immediately they were installed in small "nuc" hives with small populations of anxiously awaiting workers. The nucs were made up from two of the best swarms collected the past 2 weeks. One was queenless after ensconced in a Farm hive but the other had a queen that waited a week to begin laying; she had to be transferred to another swarm hive that was also apparently queenless. The new hybrid queens will be released from their cages in 3 days and should be laying within a day or so in their adopted colony. They are supposed to be "resistant" but these days, this is like saying your cereal is full of "goodness". But they are as local as we could find on short notice and we will be testing them against Varroa mites and for hygienic behavior.