Need to Re-Queen your hive?
- Adelaide Bee Sales
- Oct 25, 2021
- 1 min read
Swarming and aggressive stinging bees are probably the most common problems that can lead to disputes with neighbours. The best practice is to keep colonies that have young queens of a docile strain.
The Queen is undoubtedly the most important individual in the bee colony. The colony rises and falls on her ability. She must maintain egg-laying in response to the needs communicated to her by the workers.
Young queens can lay more eggs than older queens. A high rate of egg-laying results in more worker bees and increased honey production. Other factors to consider are weather conditions and good sources of nectar and pollen. A two-year old Queen is regarded as an old Queen. So, we all need to re-queen our beehives eventually.
How to Re-Queen?
Re-queening colonies is an integral part of beekeeping. The old Queen is removed from the hive and replaced by a younger one, either purchased or self-reared.
A quick summary of the re-queening process is:
De-Queen your colony and remove any existing queen cells.
Within 4 to 24 hours of de-queening, add your new mated Queen in her cage.
Leave the colony undisturbed for ten days.
Successful re-queening is confirmed when you see egg-laying from your new Queen.
Note: The colony to be re-queened must have a good number of young bees. Colonies that are broodless and queenless rarely accept a new queen. Therefore, merging these bees with queen-right colonies is the best management practice.
コメント