Advice on replacing a queen

[bellabee]

Hello,

One year in... and we have squashed our first queen, accidently removed our second queen, had a DLQ and let our bees choose the strongest from QC... hence we are not our bees favorite people right now.

We seem to have an aggressive hive, they follow too much and go for stinging straight away...

(We want to move to our allotment next year so calmer bees would be better for this, as to not upset anyone)

Anyway, deciding to replace HM nest year... ANY advice on this would be great

When is the best time of year to do this?
Best way to go about it for success?
Removing and disposing the old queen?
Is it worth doing?

Thanks in advance

 

[Beeline]

One year in... and we have squashed our first queen, accidently removed our second queen, had a DLQ and let our bees choose the strongest from QC... hence we are not our bees favorite people right now.

We seem to have an aggressive hive, they follow too much and go for stinging straight away...

Sounds like a case of self preservation considering what's happened to them this year

BL

 

[bellabee]

*sigh

 

[Alleree]

I haven't had the same disasters but I have had a lively first year with a queen (and presumably her daughters) who swarms for little or no reason. I've seen 5 swarms and we had two reported while we were away or out for the day and she has probably been superceded at least once. The result is at the end of the year one reunited colony which has produced barely any stores and is still feeding like mad. I really want a new queen asap but am unsure when and how to get one. i've been offered queens by local Beeks but as their bees are basically the same strain as mine I want something completely new. I am reluctant to just buy one from an advert. What is your advice? low swarming and docility are the most important qualities - production is not important as I aim to keep bees out of interest not profit.

 

[susbees]

i've been offered queens by local Beeks but as their bees are basically the same strain as mine I want something completely new.

No you don't, or docility will likely be out the window likely within a generation or two. Some of those local beeks will have well-behaved stocks. Some will swarm less than others. Talk it through and everyone can be happy.

How did you manage your bees when you knew they had made swarm preparations? Or did you just leave them to it?

 

[Alleree]

The only beeks I know are in our local club and most have similar bees to mine. I did do an artificial swarm early in the season when I found queen cells but then the following week both colonies swarmed again for no reason that I could see and then went back into the same hives apparently quite happily. It's possible that the swarms I didn't see were supercedure VQs as the bees seemed quite normal by the time we got home. This strain of bees is known locally for its swarming and this has been a particularly bad year apparently.

 

[Swarm]

Low tendency to swarm and docile nature are surely what every beekeeper is looking for.
Agreeing with Susbees, introducing unknown quantities could be a recipe for disaster, for you and the other local beekeepers. I also think you will find what you want from a local beekeeper.

After carrying out the AS, did you check the bees did not build more QC's? I've taken to cropping them to only one as leaving two has always resulted in a cast.

 

[Finman]

.
Autumn is good and bad time to change the queen.
Bees are very agressive against foreign odor in late summer.
But when you give winter feeding to the hive, they are satisfied with their life and accept a new queen well.

To make accept even more sure, let the hive bee queenless 5 days. Then their emercengy queen cells are capped and they accept all queens. Don't brake the queen cells. Let the new queen do it. When you look 2 days later, and queen cells are broken, it is ok. if queen cells are not broken, you must seek everyone and break them.

If the queen is laying winter bees, don't disturbe it. Make a small nuc to the new queen and put it later into the hive.

 

[bellabee]

Alleree: Seems your bees are keen to fly off, after I posted this I did wonder!! Our bees have been very productive, and I do wonder if we replace the queen they might get slack, and not produce... It is a delicate balance I guess. I might ask the bees what is best

however I would be keen to get a new queen as we want to move to an allotment near our house...

Finman > Good advice...