New queen in small apiary

[ArmucheeBee]

Ok.  Playing off challenger's post--if it is swarm season and I find a swarm cell and I want to start a new hive/queen.  What is the best method to go about that?  Can I just remove that frame to a nuc with some bees?

[Robo]

I would suggest more than 1 frame of brood if you can spare it because it will be about a month before you will get any bees from the new queen,  but yes,  that is a much better plan than an emergency queen.  The bees "chose" when to rear a queen as opposed to being "forced".

[ArmucheeBee]

Great Robo.  This thread changed my whole thought process about starting a new hive.  I have read posts about taking frames and bees making a queen, I will not do that now.  Oh, take multiple frames out with the queen cell.  Thanks.

One more:  Should I wait until she is capped before taking the frame?

[Brian D. Bray]

Great Robo.  This thread changed my whole thought process about starting a new hive.  I have read posts about taking frames and bees making a queen, I will not do that now.  Oh, take multiple frames out with the queen cell.  Thanks.

One more:  Should I wait until she is capped before taking the frame?

 

I would.  Too much can happen to the egg or larvae prior to having the cell capped.  The cap adds a bit of protection, including making sure the cell contents don't get flushed.

[challenger]

My opinion is you taking a more risky approach, and unfortunately worst case is you won't know for sure until late in the fall and have a queen fail.I like to think of it as more of an experiment. I can't get a queen until after the flow in S.E., NC and my 2 hives were bursting due to a very warm winter where there was a small flow that got the bees going nuts in Jan. I had to do something.

Are your current conditions ideal for rearing queens?  If it is swarm season in your area, that is a good sign,  but doesn't necessarily mean the particular hive has and abundance of resources.I know there are many things to consider and I hopefully have covered them all. I had three deep boxes-two of which were jammed-w-bees, brood & honey/pollen and the third had some nectar, honey and, in one case, eggs. I plan on keeping a lot of honey in reserve in case I have to combine hives in the fall if there is a failing queen plus we generally get a fair fall flow that adds as well. I do plan on getting into queen rearing next year but it is too late this year-w-too many chores ahead.

Don't get me wrong,  I'm a strong proponent of acclimatized bees and raising your own stock, but it is not as simple as yanking a queen and wa la, they make another one the same.

[bugleman]

I would.  Too much can happen to the egg or larvae prior to having the cell capped.  The cap adds a bit of protection, including making sure the cell contents don't get flushed.

Additonally you have the full strength collony finish the cell which should make it stronger.

[rjsittig]

hi, new beekeeper with a question on queening. had a hive swarmed on 4-4-09 and didn't have a queen with it. when i check it 2 weeks later and found out,got a queen and a week after i put the queen in found brood in the frame and the next week had capped brood  and everthing was o.k.
on the may 4 got another swarm from one of my hives and had no trouble to box them and two(2) days later got another swarm also had no trouble to box them, but after seven (7) days no queens in eather hive. had to beg to get some queens and when they came in put them in the same day, but after 5 days when l checked the queens was not there no larval eather. what happened? ordered more queens, put them in when i got them a week ago yesterday and when i checked this morning, sat., and no queen and no brood. anyone have an idea? the hive has plenty of honey and form for the queen to lay but nothing has happened

[rast]

rjsittig, my thoughts. If both swarms stayed in the boxes, they either have, or think they have a queen. Swarms won't usually stay without a queen. If one was an afterswarm from the same hive as the first swarm, she probably wasn't mated yet. In either case, if they think they have a queen, they will usually kill any introduced queen.
 They aren't Russians by any chance are they? It may help you to remember this next March and get a swarm prevention plan going also.
 Rick

[rjsittig]

no rast, they were not russians. this was the first time i had a hive to swarm and wasn't looking for one so soon. the other swarm were early also from what i had read about. this year is a learning year for me. well i will try to look again for tha queens today(monday). the swarms did stay in the hive everytime i got one and started to fix the frames up and start making honey. the first swarm has already filled the second super and also fillled a shallow super with honey. today i will harvest that box and replace with another box also have two other boxes filled with honey and will work today. thank you and will look harder for the queens.

[Michael Bush]

I think the riskiest approach is to buy a queen from a large breeder in the South or California that has been propped up with antibiotics and treatments and expect her to do will in the North, especially if you want to use no treatments.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm#quality