Queenstart

01 · HOW IT WORKS

One extra smell to cover two different ones

Bees identify each other by the chemical profile of the cuticle, and that profile belongs to the colony, not to the individual. Spray the same scent on the queen, on her cage and on the workers receiving her and, for a few hours, everyone smells alike, leaving the colony nothing to single the stranger out by. Hence the two things that surprise people most: it smells very strong — that is what does the work — and you also have to wet the bees of the hive, not just the queen.

02 · THE TWO SIZES

2 ml is a dose, not a different product

The 2 ml syringe and the 10 ml one hold the same liquid and work at the same dilution: 2 ml in 150 ml of 1:1 syrup to introduce a queen, 10 ml in 750 ml to unite two colonies. Either way it comes to 1 part per 75 of syrup. What changes is how much syrup you need, because uniting wets two whole populations; so the 10 ml is not «the merging one», it is five times the quantity of the small one.

03 · THREE COMMON MISTAKES

What the scent will not do for you

One: to unite two colonies you must remove one of the two queens first, because the scent softens how workers live together but does not arbitrate between queens. Two: the syrup is home-made 1:1, equal parts sugar and water, freshly mixed; ready-to-use commercial syrups are considerably more concentrated. Three: it does not replace the cage or the waiting days; you spray, keep the queen caged for as long as your method asks and check acceptance before releasing her.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The syringe measures, it does not spray: it comes without a needle, in a sealed blister pack, and only serves to meter the millilitres. The hand sprayer is yours to provide, as are the cage and the syrup. In exchange, it belongs to no closed system: Nicot, JZBZ, Jenter, mesh cages, Langstroth or Dadant make no difference, because it acts on smell and not on hardware. The window of use is queen replacement and uniting: spring above all, and late summer before wintering.