The right way to Requeen a Honey Bee Hive

The first question you would possibly need to ask your self is: Do I’ve to requeen this hive and alter my queen bee? Listed below are among the many commonest causes for requeening a hive:

• Outdated queen: Your queen may be higher than a yr or two earlier. Some beekeepers routinely requeen every September to verify their queen is healthful, youthful and productive. Others need to let the bees do their issue and let the queen keep for two years or additional. Most queens will solely dwell for 3 to five years, and their egg-laying will decrease over time.
• No queen: In case your queen is missing—verified by lack of eggs and/or larvae—you’ll have to requeen the hive as rapidly as attainable.
• Poorly laying queen: In case your queen is just lower than snuff, it is attainable you will choose to interchange her. This could be evidenced by a hive that must have additional bees than it does, a spotty laying pattern or the advice of an expert beekeeper.

For those who occur to’ve determined that you simply simply positively need to requeen, study on.

Buy a New Queen

The 1st step in requeening your hive is to buy a newly-mated queen bee. Contact your native beekeeping affiliation to find a local queen, which is always the best choice. Sometimes, within the occasion you dwell in a rural house, which will indicate having a queen shipped to you from all through the state from a honeybee supplier.

Whenever you’ve bought a queen shipped to you, the cage she is obtainable in could seem like this one, or it’d look barely completely totally different. Keep in mind that it is attainable you will have attendant bees throughout the cage alongside together with her or throughout the area itself (open the sphere and out go the attendants). Most likely, the cage could have a plug, cork or cowl (this one has a cover you’re taking away) along with candy in the long term that the bees ought to eat by way of to launch the queen.

Take away the Outdated Queen

For this hive, there was a dwelling—nonetheless poorly-laying—queen bee who wanted to be far from the beehive. Though you probably can maintain her alive for a while in case the other queen wouldn’t take or use her to separate off one different hive, most beekeepers kill queens that they take away.

In case your queen is just not marked, seek for the circle of workers that embody the queen. She won’t be striped like the other bees, and she or he could be barely longer and thinner throughout the abdomen.

Arrange the New Queen Bee throughout the Hive

Begin by opening the beehive just like you’d for a routine inspection (although you might must go mild on the smoke). Some beekeepers use sugar syrup and necessary oils to masks the model new pheromone scent of the queen in hopes that this may improve acceptance of the model new queen by the bees. The choice is as a lot as you.

If attainable, it’s actually useful to attend 24 hours between eradicating the earlier queen and placing within the model new one. This gives the bees additional chance of accepting the model new queen.

Now comes the gratifying half. It’s time to put the model new queen bee in her cage throughout the beehive. In spite of everything like nearly all of the items with beekeeping, there are completely totally different approaches to this. Some go away the plug or cap on the tip of the queen cage for one to 2 days, merely introducing the queen to the bees. There could also be some hazard of the bees killing her within the occasion that they reject her, so the idea is that by getting the hive used to the model new queen, they’re going to be a lot much less extra more likely to reject her.

For this specific requeening, the model new queen bee was set in with out the cap. It’s best to put the candy side down when putting throughout the cage; within the occasion you dwell in a scorching native climate, there is a chance that the candy will soften in every single place within the queen, which could injure or kill her.

Gently push the queen cage into some comb (with out brood) throughout the center of the brood nest, after which gently push the frames collectively throughout the cage. Set it solely a bit beneath the best bars.

Go away the Hive Alone

After placing within the model new queen bee, go away the hive alone for a number of week. One exception: For those who occur to left the cork, plug, or cap on the cage, open the hive up in a single to 2 days and take away it. Then go away them alone for each week. This fashion, the bees have time to only settle for their new queen with none disruption. For those who occur to disturb them all through this time, they may blame the stress on the model new queen and kill her.

Study the Hive

If it has been each week or ten days, your queen has attainable been launched by the bees who’ve eaten by way of the candy plug. They’ve each accepted or rejected her and now it’s time to uncover out which.

Perform an strange hive inspection (although it will not harm to go easy on the smoke with a view to not stress them an extreme quantity of). Set up the queen herself or at least verify the presence of eggs, so that you already know she’s there, laying and joyful. In case your queen is just not present, assess the state of affairs with a additional expert beekeeper or order one different queen and bear the steps as soon as extra.