A Parasitic Queen Success

[CamponotusKing]

So where I live in Calgary, Alberta there is a spot along the Bow river known as Bowmont. This place runs along for about 2 or 3 kilometers beside the river, and it is full of ants. The main inhabitants of the park are Wood Ants or Mound Ants, species like Formica rufa and Formica ulkei. I was biking around the park this past Tuesday (June 5) and I caught 5 Wood Ant queens. This was amazing for me! Knowing that most Wood Ant queens are parasitic queens I had to figure out a way for her to found a colony and I did.
So this is what worked for me, here are the steps I took. I looked for wild Formica fusca or a species close to Formica fusca. Once I found my Formica fusca workers with pupae under a rock I put them in plastic test tubes and took them home. At home I took a plastic container with some sand in the bottom and I put a test tube setup in there (a test tube half filled with water that is blocked off by a cotton ball). I then put my Formica fusca workers and brood in there and left them for about 15-20 minutes. When I came back I introduced one my Wood Ant queens to the workers and they accepted her or she accepted them, I am not sure. Now they are living happily in their tubs & tubes setup.
I hope you all find this helpful! Shout out to the Nordic Ants channel on Youtube for the idea. Watch his video on parasitic queens, the link is below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbOuZCBZaLo&t=580s

[MaxGen]

Can you clarify how many workers and brood you collected for the queen?

[CamponotusKing]

There are 6 workers and about 15-17 cocoons. I think you could have as little as 3 workers but going over 10 may not be a good idea. From observing the queen meeting the workers it looked like it was going best when she met with only 1 or 2 of the workers at a time.

[Batspiderfish]

Adding workers is an unnecessary risk for Formica social parasites, since the queens are quite capable of caring for and opening cocoons, but thank you for recording this! I wouldn't try this with sanguinea group Formica.

[CamponotusKing]

The workers I caught are also very, very small compared to the queen so even if they turned on her she could defend herself.