Clipping Queens

[Brigsy]

I'm going to have to re-read that when I haven't been up since 0400!

 

[B+.]

I'm going to have to re-read that when I haven't been up since 0400!

I have read it many times and you do have to think about what some of it really means (and the consequences of it). It's better when you have someone to answer your questions than trying to puzzle it all out for yourself. I found the answer to some of my questions was in another part of the process which occurred at a different time of the year. Its tough going reading it through first time, I agree.

 

[Joseph]

"Clipping can lead to an early supercedure"

Proof please.

PH

There is evidence, to the contrary from a controlled study. Clipping does not lead to supercedure.

Forster, I.W., 1971. Effect of clipping queen honey bees' wings. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 14(2), pp.535-537.

In around 80 hives over a few years clipping did not lead to supercedure.

 

[domino]

There is evidence, to the contrary from a controlled study. Clipping does not lead to supercedure.

Forster, I.W., 1971. Effect of clipping queen honey bees' wings. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 14(2), pp.535-537.

In around 80 hives over a few years clipping did not lead to supercedure.

I've clipped for a while and have never have had a supercedure.

I find clipping a useful management technique in my beekeeping tool box.

If you keep them in a urban area it is well worth considering.

 

[Finman]

If you keep them in a urban area it is well worth considering.

On rural area it is as good, that I do loose my productive colony and 100 kg honey. No one is catching the swarm in outer apiary.

Considering does not help. Clip first and think later what you did.
.

 

[Eyeman]

Clip first and think later what you did.

or

Never act on impulse. Plan first. Think it through. Then act

 

[Finman]

or

Never act on impulse. Plan first. Think it through. Then act

And then do nothing carefully.
.

Clipping plan. I have. I clip when I meet
the queen on combs.
Keep scissors in the pocket. But I forget them often.

 

[domino]

On rural area it is as good, that I do loose my productive colony and 100 kg honey.
.

I have a hive this year that swarmed on a piece of land I keep them on, the only reason I'm getting honey is that the queen was clipped.

 

[B+.]

I have a hive this year that swarmed on a piece of land I keep them on, the only reason I'm getting honey is that the queen was clipped.

I think some of that is also due to the frequency of your visits. A clipped queen that is not inspected regularly enough serves no useful purpose. They would still swarm with a virgin.

 

[domino]

I think some of that is also due to the frequency of your visits. A clipped queen that is not inspected regularly enough serves no useful purpose. They would still swarm with a virgin.

I inspect them every week, this hive was/is on three national brood boxes. I missed a QC and they swarmed.

Clipping doesn't reduce the requirement to inspect but is does provide a very useful safety net.

Personally, I always clip now.

 

[Eyeman]

I think some of that is also due to the frequency of your visits. A clipped queen that is not inspected regularly enough serves no useful purpose. They would still swarm with a virgin.

A lot of suspected supercedure going on in my colonies this time of year (25%). It reassuring when you've got or leave the one queen cell that they are unlikely to fly off if the queen is clipped.

 

[B+.]

Clipping doesn't reduce the requirement to inspect but is does provide a very useful safety net.

Indeed. However, if they had swarmed earlier in your weekly inspection programme, you could still have lost them.

 

[Finman]

.

Personally, I always clip now.

It is good. Quite few clip in my country, but they do what they do.

 

[Finman]

, you could still have lost them.

Terrible. It is better to stop whole beekeeping, when nothing goes well. .

.