yesterday....my first queen killing....

[justtryintolearnhere]

i know you have to do it to introduce your new queens but god it was a hard thing to do...the 1st queen killed was the one that swarmed about 4 weeks ago...and was she a laying wonder...still had a great pattern going still...but i guess it had to be done...still it wasnt a good feeling seeing her go...oh well i hope the new ones will do as well as she did...she was a laying machine... any out there who feel the same?

[Jerrymac]

If you got a good laying queen, why would you want to replace her with one you know nothing about?

[Michael Bush]

>If you got a good laying queen, why would you want to replace her with one you know nothing about?

My thoughts exactly.

When I do requeen it's because I don't like the queen.  The bees are hot, they aren't producing well, etc.  I drop her in a jar of alcohol to make swarm lure.

[qa33010]

Michael, is that grain alcohol?

[justtryintolearnhere]

well the queen already swarmed and when i got the hive she was already in it..and i really dont know how old she is and as she ages the pheramone that controls the hive waxes cold...and ive read that u requeen every cpl of years anyway..thats why i requeened...and i picked the new queen up at the apiary and the gentleman who has been supplying queens for 40 plus years worked his bees while i stood beside him...both of us without gloves or viels and not a bee brushed us or bumped us...man they were gentle bees... i think i made the right choice there

[Michael Bush]

>Michael, is that grain alcohol?

It could be. Mine is just isopropyl rubbing alcohol.

[fuzzybeekeeper]

If she was still such a good queen, why couldn't you have pulled 3-4 frames of brood and pollen and made a nuc with her.  That way you would have had a "spare" in case the new one was not accepted or you could have let her build up to a small hive and then combined her with a weak hive.

I KNOW I am going to have a hard time with my first bee-heading.  I guess I need to start with a "hot" hive so I don't mind doing it so much.

Fuzzybeekeeper

[Michael Bush]

That's another thing I often do.  Put any old queen in a nuc and have some spare queens around.  I can always dispose of her come winter and combine the nuc.