Beginner question about continual queen cell rearing

[ugcheleuce]

Hello everyone

Do I understand correctly that one can cause the bees to raise a queen by simply cutting out a small square of cells with eggs/larvae in them and sticking them into the comb again, turned by 90 degrees so that the openings point downward?

Can one do that every seven to ten days, to ensure that you're always within a week of having a queen? In this scenario one would open the hive about once a week and kill the queen cells that the bees had made the previous week, and put out a new row for the bees to make queen cells from. Is that how it works?

If I was to take one of these closed queen cells and I want to introduce it to a second colony, what would be the best/easiest way to do that? Can I simply kill the existing queen in that colony and put two or three closed queen cells in the hive, so that the new queens hatch a few days later and then fight until one remains and then mate and then start laying? Or is it a little more complicated than that?

My situation is that I'm at the mercy of very few queen breeders in my region who don't breed all the time, and I have had a situation in which having a queen from another colony would have been a very useful thing, but I could not find a queen anywhere (to buy). I'm trying to figure out if it is worth my while (or that of a group of us) to continuously raise a couple of queens so that there are new queens available if necessary.

Thanks
Samuel

 

[enrico]

Increase the amount of hives you have so you will always have a frame of eggs to transfer would be what I would do
E

 

[Mellifera397]

The bees won't make queen cells just because the cells are vertical. The colony that is to be making queencells must have a reason for making new queens so it must be either queenless or preparing to swarm. Only in those circumstances will the colony turn the vertical cells into queen cells as I understand it however I have yet to do queen rearing myself so if you want a proper answer wait until a more experienced beek comes along than I.

Also buy a book on queen rearing if you're interested or look on Dave Cushman's site (just type ’Dave Cushman’ in on google)

M

 

[Black Comb]

For just a few queens just do a Demaree.