JZBZ push-in cell protector

01 · HOW THE PUSH-IN WORKS

It lets the food through, not the body

It pins onto the comb around the queen cell or the spot where you will release the queen, forming a small enclosure against the wax itself. The mesh is the whole point: it lets air, royal jelly and the antennae and tongues of nurse bees through — they start feeding her and recognising her as their own — but will not let a worker's whole body in, which is what balling and killing her would take. After 3 to 5 days you take it off, and by then the colony treats her as theirs.

02 · BEFORE THE PROTECTOR, QUEENLESSNESS

On a queenright hive it saves nobody

Here is what really decides it, and it tends to be taken for granted: the receiving colony must be queenless and prepared before the queen arrives. The usual reference is 24 hours queenless where bees and pheromones are being mixed, and 48 hours where they are not. If the hive still holds a queen, has cells under way, or has been queenless so long that laying workers have set in, no protector fixes that. The push-in solves the first hours of cohabitation; it does not replace the preparation.

03 · THE THREE SCENARIOS

Newly emerged virgin, ripe cell or bought queen

The same protector covers three situations. Newly emerged virgin queen: you place her inside the enclosure, pinned over comb with royal jelly nearby. Cell close to emerging: you pin it around the ripe cell so that when she hatches the virgin is already inside on her own — the way out when you cannot be there on the exact day. Marked or bought queen: after the hours in a cage during which the colony gets used to her scent, you move her to the push-in for the final stage. In all three it suits any comb format, be it Langstroth, Dadant or Layens.

THE COLONY HAS THE LAST WORD

A protector reduces risk and gives control, but does not guarantee acceptance: that also depends on queenlessness, pheromones, the age and condition of the queen, the population receiving her, feed, health, weather and handling. Four precautions that cost nothing and save trouble: do not smear the protector or the queen with honey, do not leave it in direct sun or through a spell of heat or cold, avoid knocks when placing it, and do not handle the queen with strong smells on your hands.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Look at the size first: it is 35 × 27 mm, not much more than a large coin. It is a protector for a cell or a queen, not one of those comb cages pinned on so the queen can lay inside for a few days — if that is what you are after, this is not it. It is reusable season after season: washing in warm water between uses is enough. The plastic takes the sun without going brittle and the pins go cleanly into the wax without wrecking the comb, which is what you appreciate when pinning fifty in a row.