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MrNixy: "Borrowed brood" and new Lasius niger Queen. (29. Jul 2008 21:05)

Hey,

I grabbed a queen in the flights and stuck here in a take away box, I prefer them to test tubes as I can stack them and use a DIY door on top to get in and out without any ants escaping.

I borrowed a few cacoons from a nest near my house, don't worry the colony I took them from is big enough to support itself, been there for 2 years and takes over my whole garden... well I say a few... around 150 cacoons out of the 400+ they had brough above ground (they live under a kiddie slide)*.

Sorry I got distracted with the story, it's a good one i'll tell you later, they almost became a victim of a lawn mower.

Now onto business!

I stuck the cacoons in with a new queen... she loves them, moving them around under the cotton wool with water, keeping them moist... then two hatched. So far so good they are not trying to murder her so it looks like they have taken her as the boss. My question is... will the queen be ok, being she is a new queen and now has some seriously big workers to deal with, I think this may have jumped her life forward a year or two?

I'm thinking of moving her to my bigger formicarium but is it too soon for her? She will have 100+ fully grown workers to work for her and bring in food.

Also! She will be giving birth to little first generation ants, will this damage the colony at all? Being that she has begun with fully grown ants.

Thanks for your help and sorry for my huge posts... I like to talk/write.

*Please not no nest was harmed in the removal of the eggs.

Regards,
Nixy

tail__: (29. Jul 2008 21:24)

Don't worry, the queen won't be harmed in any way. The only unnatural effect you MAY notice (It doesn't always happen, but I know about such event) is that you may have some drones hatched next year, because the colony may feel it is more adult, when containing fully grown workers, and start thinking about sex.
Of course, if you have a real formicarium you can give it to them. Don't move them by force, they will move when they feel that the old nest is becoming too small, simply put the box you use on the arena near the new nest's entrance.

MrNixy: (29. Jul 2008 21:57)

Thanks for the info buddy =) i'll take good care of them.

JimmyVe: (30. Jul 2008 00:16)

Like you all now i'm a bit against boosting a colony when it is not necessary.
Like you said you didn't harmed a colony and you did not put to much cocoons in the tube. That i like. ;) It would be better if you asked the question first before doing it.
But now that you did it... Well i don't think it would harm the colony. About a 100 cocoons (if they all hatch) than the colony is one year sooner than all the other. This species grow really fast.
I wish you good luck with them. ;)

highered: (30. Jul 2008 09:42)

Yes this method of giving your new queen lots of coccons from a well established nest is absolutely fine and I have found to work well.

MrNixy: (30. Jul 2008 13:19)

I don't agree with stealing brood either but the entire colony was 10 seconds away from being the victim of a lawn mower. Better to save them than let them all die. I took the ones that the ants didn't have time to move. If I had more of a warning or had planned it I would have obviously taken more time to ask and research.

Thanks for al the advice.