All About Queens

The Basics

• Queens lay all the eggs
• They release a pheromone that workers spread physically
• Queens are made from the same fertilized eggs as workers
  • Just need Royal Jelly and their genetics change
• When a hive makes a queen it has the same genetics as a the hive

Queen Creation

Supercedure/Emergency

• Happens when the pheromone gets weak
• Make queens along the middle of the frames
• First one to emerge kills the others and the old queen
• If you mark queens you'll be able to tell

Swarms

• How colonies reproduce and honeybees spread
• They create a cell along the bottom of the frame
• Once the cell exists, they'll swarm

Swarm Control

• Swarms are fine but beekeepers don't like it
  • Hurts honey production
  • Its like a hive flying away
• Split ahead of swarming to stop it
• Demaree method to keep hives intact but prevent swarms
• If you see swarm cells…
  • Move the queen to a new nuc
  • Leave the cell in the old colony
  • Double check from Bob Binnie

Queen Rearing/Raising Queens

• All hives have different qualities from temperment, productivity, etc
• Raising queens makes your apiary more of the one you want

Supercedures

• Emergency queens can be created and then put into other hives to requeen
• Move the existing queen to a nuc
• Harvest the cells and put into other colonies
• Timing is very delicate and hard to predict

Swarm

• Catch swarming cells, move to new hives
• Use Bob Binnie's method to stop the swarm behavior

Grafting

• Graft larvae from stock colony to queen cups
• Place in queenless hive and wait for 10 days
• Remove completed queens