Queen Rearing

 

A talk by Michael Hunt of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

 

Date:                                      Thursday 27 March 2003

Venue:                                  Church Rooms, Stow on the Wold

Notes for:                             Jeremy Voaden

 

Why raise Queens ?

·        To select …..

If we just add a frame from another hive, we will be perpetuating the bad characteristics. If you have just two hives at home, the queens may well be mother and daughter. Through Queen Rearing, we hope to practice selection.

·        To replace poor Queens

·        To replace lost Queens

 

So, we need to decide what we want to select for.

 

What should we select for in our bees ?

·        Honey production

·        Good wintering

·        Quiet on the comb

·        Disease resistance

·        Good comb builders

·        Gentleness

·        Non / low propolis producers. Of course many people think propolis is wonderful health promoting stuff!

·        Non-followers i.e. Bees do not follow you as you leave the apiary

·        Non-swarming

·        Bees that fly at lower temperatures

·        Economical brood rearing when income is low or stopped

At any time, it is only likely that Queen Rearing will achieve 3 or 4 of the items on this list. To get them all at the same time is probably impossible, so the breeder needs to identify those characteristics s/he feels are most important.

 

Michael always keeps a swarm for a year to check its’ characteristics. If swarming is a characteristic you wish to breed for, then what is the balance you find acceptable between swarming and honey production. For Michael, if the colony produces 3 or 4 supers before it starts to swarm, then it has earnt its’ money. If it draws Queen Cells half way through the first Super, then it is a “finger and thumb job” i.e. The Queen is polished off!

When he has a good stock and knows it, he doesn’t bother to check for swarming until the 3rd Super is atop.

 

Queen Rearing is all about genetics. It is about breeding what you want, not what the bees want. Our plan this 2003 season is to practice be breeding then compare the bred stock and the old standard stock.

 

If you collect a swarm and hive it, it is possible to check 2 key characteristics very quickly:

·        Gentleness?

·        Good comb builders?

 

Michael has devised a system whereby we can drop into Queen Rearing at the drop of a hat when the weather is good.

 

Introduction to Method

The object of this system of Queen Rearing is that it enables the beekeeper to maintain their honey crop and to drop into Queen Rearing at any time and as often as you want to during the season. Use a colony which you know, from experience in previous years, to have a tendency to swarm. i.e. It has a strong urge to produce large numbers of  Queen cells. Their natural genetic tendency therefore supports the programme of Queen Rearing.  

 

The Method

1.      Setting it up

In early spring (April), transfer a single strong brood colony into a double brood with only six frames in each brood box. If you are using a colony which is very prolific as your cell builder, you may require seven frames up and down and remove two or three frames a week. Judge this on site and with knowledge of your colonies.

 

A box frame which fills the empty space is placed in each brood chamber. i.e. Two box frames in total.

 

2. Dimensions of a Box Frame (for a National Hive)

 

 

 

 

 

3. Moving frames within the colony

Every 7 days throughout the season, transfer 2 or 3 sealed brood or well developed larvae frames from the bottom to the top and 2 or 3 empty brood frames to the bottom. It is not a problem if they are filled with honey. The bees will soon move it. Before moving the frames up from the bottom to the top, always find the Queen to ensure she stays in the bottom. 

 

 

Timetables and Function

The first date given (-24 days) is the last date to place drone comb or foundation. Ideally a month before is best to ensure the sexual maturity of the drones.

 

Days

Function

-24

To aid selected drones, place drone comb or foundation in one or two selected colonies other than the colony donating the eggs (and feed if there is no flow).

-08

The last rotation in the cell building colony.

-08

Place prepared Jenter or Cupkit Frame into the selected colony which is to donate the eggs. Locate on the outside flanks to obtain hive smell.

-04

Find the Queen and imprison her in the Jenter or Cupkit Box in the prepared frame and replace the frame in the position you found the queen within the hive.

-03

Release the Queen from the Jenter or Cupkit Box and return frame.

-01

Divide the cell building colony into two, leaving the brood box which is queenless on a new floor on the original site. This is necessary in the event that the Queen has dropped onto the floor. Leave a space in the middle of any of the brood frames to receive the frame of larvae, then assemble with any Supers which were on it. Place the Queen brood box on top of the roof with it’s own roof or nearby facing in the same direction.

 

Zero

Transfer larvae to cell builder.

+01/+02

Unite the two colonies with the Queen at the bottom and a Queen Excluder between the two boxes.

+09

Arrival of nucs in apiary without drones.

+10

Cage Queen Cells or transfer to nucs.

 

Manipulations

Then, when the weather is right, you can drop into Queen Rearing using either:

1.      Jenter Cups

Transfer the larvae into Jenter Cups using a grafting tool or a little art brush.

 

2.      Cupkit Box

Place the box into a frame with a section cut out of it. When (or if!) the queen lays in it, remove the detachable plus from the box and put them in the Jenter Cups.

 

Top Box-Contains old, sealed brood. The bees cannot make a queen from it.

 

When you are ready to rear queens, put a new Floor Board on the site and return the top Brood Box to the new floor. There is nothing for the bees to rear queens with therein as it is all too old. Put on a Queen Excluder, then Supers on top of this Brood Box (i.e. Rebuild the hive). All the flying bees will return to this Brood Box of sealed brood.

 

 Leave for 6-12 hours queenless, then add the frame of Jenter Cups. The bees will draw out the queen cells from the Jenter Cups.

 

2 days later, take the hive apart again. Put young brood on the bottom with the queen present. Add a Queen Excluder then place the old Brood Box (with frame of Jenter Cups) on top followed by the Supers.  

 

The advantage of this system is that it does not reduce honey production.

 

A note on drones

If possible, saturate the apiary site with the drone stock that you want. Whilst Michael believes that Drone Assembly Areas exist, if there are lots of drones flying locally, the queen can get mated locally. You will hear the drones in the apiary if there are enough of them about.

 

A note on clipping queens

Whilst Michael marks them, he does not clip his young queens (especially those in nuclei) as he thinks there may be a “top-up mating process”. If clip before this, the queen will fly out of hive and onto the grass to be lost.