Clipping Queens - pros and cons?

[Lesley Hoppy]

Just wondered if I could gather some feedback from a few of you experts...
At the Nat Bee Convention I got the impression that most of the speakers considered clipping the Queen as their usual practice.
I feel uncomfortable about doing it to my Queens - it seems rather cruel - but can see that it has advantages .....
Could I have some opinions?

 

[Blue Spinnaker]

Wish mine had been clipped!

 

[Davelin]

Mine are clipped, it's only another aspect of all the things you do to manage the colony, artificial swarming could be interpreted as suppressing their natural urge so cruel.
No more cruel than cutting your toenails.

PS: Only my opinion, and definitely not an expert.

 

[MartinL]

Mine are clipped, it's only another aspect of all the things you do to manage the colony, artificial swarming could be interpreted as suppressing their natural urge so cruel.
No more cruel than cutting your toenails.

PS: Only my opinion, and definitely not an expert.

No expert myself either, but cutting my toenails has never stopped me walking!

Similarly, I've never clipped the queens wings. Sorry but I just don't believe in it. If your hives are knocked over, (vandals, deer, livestock e.t.c.) a flying queen has the chance of surviving.

 

[Nuc]

Clipped both my colonies Q's recently and they both went on to try to swarm before i could get organised to AS them. I seem to have lost both Q's but still have all the bees and swarm cells to play with. Considering buying mated Q's as well so at least there are options open.
I'll certainly clip my next Q's and try to be ready with equipment to AS.
Last year i dithered over clipping my first Q then lost a swarm and a cast.
Learning curve very steep. Nuc.

 

[Brosville]

As a (more) natural beekeeper, I wouldn't dream of clipping or marking my queens, it's another aspect that I prefer not to try to take control over - if my queens want to leg it for the horizon, that's fine by me, there's probably a good reason for it.....

 

[susbees]

No more cruel than cutting your toenails.

PS: Only my opinion, and definitely not an expert.

This is not actually true: you have no nerve endings in your toe nails. The wing veins in an insect wing contain nerve endings.

 

[susbees]

As a (more) natural beekeeper, I wouldn't dream of clipping or marking my queens

Can't see why marking would offend...mind I don't like nail varnish much but not used for the same reasons (identification and easy to spot)!

 

[Brosville]

To what end? - I'm not forever hauling the brood nest apart, I'm not seeking to "control" the bees, so what's the point?

 

[Chris Luck]

Many French poultry breeders and keepers have taken this a step further, they break one of the chicks wings when it's few days old. Mind you I used to cut limbs and other parts from insects when I was a child I have to admit.

Needless to say clipping a Queens wings is not something I would practice.

Chris

 

[Elaine]

I decided I won't clip (or mark) my queens, unless someone can convinve me that the disturbance to the hive, and the risks in harming her, are out-weighed by the advantages. So far no-one has convinced me, but I am always open to discussion

 

[Alabamaeee]

Depends how adept you are at finding the queen.

For me it makes it easier to find her when doing an A/S.

The big problem is finding her to mark her

 

[Tim1606]

Mine are clipped.
If you are nervous about it, why not practise on a few drones first.
It's one of those things that you get more confident as you do more.

 

[the beehive lodge]

Clipping the wings can delay a swarm as the queen can't fly so the swarm would hang around buying the keeper a bit of time i believe to clip her always

 

[Into the lions den]

If your hives are knocked over, (vandals, deer, livestock e.t.c.) a flying queen has the chance of surviving.

Its no advantage whatsoever in that situation. A queen in full lay cannot fly anyway, at least not far, and does tend to walk if forced. If its the time of year when they are not in lay the chances of it surviving after such disturnace are pretty well nil anyway. Probably best eqipped to survive if they cannot quit the scene (and many have done just that, survived remarkably well after vandalism/inversion/hive dismemberment.)

Clipping AND marking all the way for us, but only after they have overwintered.

 

[weebee]

If individuals do not wish to clip there is still the option of placing a Queen Excluder under the brood box to prevent the Queen leaving when a swarm takes place.

 

[Langstroth]

When if find them, they get clipped. Simple. You know she cant go anywhere, is readily identified as a known queen and as far as i can tell gives her absolutly zero discomfort. If i am going through a hive and find an unclipped queen I clip both wings simultaniously whilst she is on the comb, i dont handle her at all. Almost all the queens clipped in this fashion have never shown the slightest sign of pain or discomfort, it seems that only when you handle them to clip them that they seem to get stressed.

 

[Blue Spinnaker]

Clipping AND marking all the way for us, but only after they have overwintered.

Do you mean you should leave her unmarked and unclipped for the whole of her first season?

 

[plumberman]

If individuals do not wish to clip there is still the option of placing a Queen Excluder under the brood box to prevent the Queen leaving when a swarm takes place.

And the drones?...............

 

[weebee]

And the drones?...............

Aahh! Thank You.