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Requeening. Bob Livingston Apalachee Beekeepers 02/14/2012. What is requeening?. The replacement of a colony’s mother queen by a younger queen (typically one that has been purchased or reared to have favorable traits). Why would you want to requeen?. Maximize honey production
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Requeening Bob Livingston Apalachee Beekeepers 02/14/2012
What is requeening? • The replacement of a colony’s mother queen by a younger queen (typically one that has been purchased or reared to have favorable traits)
Why would you want to requeen? • Maximize honey production • depends on bee management that produces a strong colony at the beginning of the main honey flow. • younger queens typically lay more eggs than older queens. When you have more eggs, you have stronger colonies and increased honey production. • Minimize Swarming Colonies with younger queens are also less likely to swarm. • Temperament Requeening of the colony also allows the beekeeper to have some control over the stinging temperament of the colony. • Voarra Management a break in the brood cycle which makes varroa mite treatments more effective mites are on the bees (phoretic) rather than in capped cells
Florida’s Best Management Practices. • Requeening with queens mated from known drone populations is what is suggested by the state of Florida’s Best Management Practices.
When to Requeen? • Requeening in the early spring as a swarm management technique seems to be the most popular in our area • Young queens are less likely to swarm • lots of nectar and pollen is available • done early enough to allow the colony to build back up to max strength prior to the main honey flow. • However, queen availability in early March is problematic
When to Requeen 2 • Some writings encourage fall requeening • queens are more available and cost less. • The young queen winters with the colony and is less likely to die during the winter than older queens. • disadvantage is that in fall, nectar flows are not heavy • bees more readily accept new queens during heavy nectar flows, however, you can feed sugar syrup to overcome this.
Natural vs. Managed Requeening • Natural requeening occurs when worker bees in the colony replace a defective queen • called queen supersedure. • When managing colonies for honey production, natural requeening should not be relied on for several reasons. • Sometimes the colony lets the queen become too old and the colony weakens. • If supersedure occurs during the spring, the colony may swarm. • Managed requeening involves introducing a new queen into the colony.
Managed Requeening • There are many techniques to introduce a new queen into your hive
The most essential points • The colony must be Queenless! • Bees will not accept a new queen while the mother queen is in the colony. • Even when queenless, initially the bees will try and kill the queen because she is not a member of the colony (yet). • Requeening techniques are designed to reduce premature queen death by limiting the bees’ access to the new queen during the introduction period. • Once the bees have become accustomed to the new queen she is released into the colony
Requeening with the Standard Queen Bee shipping cage • Use marked queens. A marked queen is easier to find in the hive and lets you know if she’s been replaced. (Very important in Africanized bee areas). • At least several hours before introducing the new queen, a full day is probably better, locate the old queen and either kill her, move her to a nuc or otherwise remove her from the hive. • Remove the cork from the end of the new queen’s cage without the candy and carefully release the attendant worker bees without releasing the new queen. (optional) • You can hold the cage inside your veil or an enclosed area (such as a car) so queen can not accidentally escape. Place the cork back in the non-candy end. • Next, remove the cork from the end with the sugar candy.
Requeening with the Standard Queen Bee shipping cage 2 • Poke a nail sized hole through the sugar candy (be careful not to skewer the new queen) to give the bees a small start at removing the sugar candy. • The nail hole results in a more rapid release of the new queen. • Sometimes it’s best to not poke a starting hole in the candy which gives the new queen a longer period to be accepted. • Wedge the cage vertically between the top bars of two brood frames inside the colony with the candy end up. • Make sure the screen side is unobstructed to allow the bees’ access to the new queen through the screen. • The queen is usually released in about 2-3 days. • Re-inspect the colony briefly for the presence of eggs or young larvae in about a week. • This will indicate a successful introduction.
Requeening with a Push-in Queen Cage • A push-in type introduction cage is a small wire or plastic cage that is pushed in to a frame with empty drawn comb. • The new queen is placed in the cage and allowed to lay eggs in the empty cells. • The theory behind this method is that a new laying queen is better accepted than a new caged queen. • Disadvantages are that it takes longer, requires another piece of equipment and the new queen must be removed from the shipping cage and manually transferred to the push-in cage. • The new queen may be injured or lost during the transfer.
Requeening with a Requeening Frame (Brushy Mountain) • Similar to the above method but utilizes an introduction cage built into a frame. • A wooden queen shipping cage fits into the requeening frame and the new queen is released directly into a large screened area. • After the colony has accepted her, you open a door on the frame and let her walk out. • Doesn’t require handling the queen like the above method but the requeening frame takes the place of a frame in the hive and requires manual release of the new queen. • No comb provided for queen to lay in. • Requeening frames are much more expensive than push-in cages. • Doesn’t work with plastic queen cages.
Alternate Requeening Methods • Honey drench method • Remove new queen from cage • Drench with honey • Release drenched queen into hive • Honey masks new queen’s smell • Worker bees will clean honey off of new queen and accept her • Acceptance rate unknown
Alternate Requeening Methods 2 • Masking Spray Method • Open hive and spray top bard with a mixture of water and either Honey-B-Healthy, vanilla extract spearmint, wintergreen etc. • Remove queen from queen cage and spray with solution • Introduce queen directly into hive’ • Spray masks both the hive and queen odor • When smell dissipates, queen will be accepted • Acceptance Rate Unknown
Likelihood of Acceptance • The likelihood that a colony will accept a new queen depends partly on the conditions present during the queen introduction period. • To increase acceptance consider these points: • Younger bees accept queen more readily than older bees • Smaller colonies of bees accept queens more readily than larger ones • Bees accept queens more readily during a nectar flow
Acceptance 2 • Bees are less likely to accept a queen when colonies are trying to rob each other of food stores • Bees are more likely to accept a new queen that is similar to their old queen i.e. replace a laying Italian queen with a laying Italian queen. • There are many other considerations when installing a new queen will increase your chances of queen acceptance to research and experiment with.
When does a hive produce a new queen? • Swarming is the natural means of reproduction of honey bee colonies. • A new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees, a process called swarming. • About 60% of the worker bees leave the original hive location with the old queen • You go in your hive in the spring and there is half the amount of bees than a few weeks before, and the last time you checked they were cranking!
When does a hive produce a new queen 2 • Supercedure is the process by which an old queen bee is replaced by a new queen. • Supersedure may be initiated due to old age of a queen or a diseased or failing queen. • As the queen ages her pheromone output diminishes. • Your original marked queen is no longer in the hive and there is another queen. • You see queen cells being formed by the worker bees in the hive that tend to be in the upper-middle part of the frame
When does a hive produce a new queen 3 • Emergency • Queen dies or colony is made queenless by splitting (mother queen stays in new nuc/hive • Parent hive other half is in emergency queenless state • Bees in the queenless colony will make another queen in this emergency situation.
