Round Queen Rearing Cage 90 mm

01 · THE THREE JOBS

One piece, three different moments

As a queen cell protector, it covers the cell during queen rearing and keeps a worker from opening it or the cell from being lost to robbing. As an introduction cage, it goes on the comb with the queen inside and the sliding plug lets you release her once the colony accepts her.

And as a limiter, it isolates the queen for a moment or blocks one particular cell without dismantling the whole hive.

02 · STOPPING THE LAYING

Why capped brood matters

Caging the queen for ten to fourteen days leaves the colony without capped brood, and that changes things in colony health: some treatments — oxalic acid is the classic case — do not pass through the capping, so while there is sealed brood a share of the varroa stays sheltered.

With laying stopped, that broodless window is what lets an application reach the mites riding on the bees. The technique is well known; what governs it is the label of the authorised product you apply, not the cage.

03 · THE PLASTIC

Flexible, and why that helps

It is flexible plastic: it conforms to the comb surface when pressed and takes heat, repeated use and cleaning without staying deformed. A rigid cage does not seat the same on wax that is never perfectly flat.

The mesh lets air through and lets the nurse bees make contact, which is what allows them to feed the queen or the cell through it.

04 · WHEN TO HAVE THEM HANDY

In the middle of a strong flow

In flows that send colonies racing — eucalyptus, rosemary — swarming comes early and decisions have to be quick. Having several cages in the case is what lets you block a cell or isolate a queen on the spot, without going back to the store.

They are reusable: wash them and they go back in the equipment box for next season.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

A small cage with three uses: