requeening question

[troutstalker2]

   I was wondering if I want to requeen can I kill th queen and put in a ripe queen cell, or will they just start making a emergency queen cells? It seems easier than makeing a nuc and introducing the queen later.

David

[FRAMEshift]

Of course, it depends on which queen line you want to propagate.  If you were happy with the genetics of the old queen, then you could just dispose of the queen and let them raise a new one.

If you want the genes from the queen cells you have, squish the queen and put them in.  That will save some time and get the brood production process back on track quicker.  You might want to put that dead queen in a small bottle of alcohol so you will have some queen pheromone to use in swarm catching.  

Queen pheromone from the cell(s) you add may prevent them from starting emergency cells, but if they do, your queen cells will have a head start and will dispose of the competition.