Clipping Queens
- Thread starter darrenperrett
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Silly B.
A clipped queen will usually fall to the floor outside the hive where you can often pick her up with a few bees clustered around her. She can then be re-used.
RESULT!
OR she can leg it and walk into another hive as has happened to me.
As an example of clipped queens, I did an AS on a colony one morning. 2 hours later the colony swarmed anyway. Clipped Queen on the grass. All the bees returned. Popped her back in the hive. Next day they swarmed again. Queen on the grass again. Popped back in but this time over a queen excluder. Two hours later they tried it again. A bit of a half-hearted attempt this time and they gave up after that. I removed the queen excluder a week later. That colony is on a double brood now and has given me 2 supers of honey.
A clipped queen will usually fall to the floor outside the hive where you can often pick her up with a few bees clustered around her. She can then be re-used.
RESULT!
OR she can leg it and walk into another hive as has happened to me.
As an example of clipped queens, I did an AS on a colony one morning. 2 hours later the colony swarmed anyway. Clipped Queen on the grass. All the bees returned. Popped her back in the hive. Next day they swarmed again. Queen on the grass again. Popped back in but this time over a queen excluder. Two hours later they tried it again. A bit of a half-hearted attempt this time and they gave up after that. I removed the queen excluder a week later. That colony is on a double brood now and has given me 2 supers of honey.
Silly Bee
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Thanks heebeegeebee.
Muswell metro is asking about a similar thing.
I don't like knocking down QC's either, but try and save them for somebody who might need one.
Have to say I'm a bit of a fruit loop when it comes to bees and prefer to raise bees rather than honey.
Muswell metro is asking about a similar thing.
I don't like knocking down QC's either, but try and save them for somebody who might need one.
Have to say I'm a bit of a fruit loop when it comes to bees and prefer to raise bees rather than honey.
OP
darrenperrett
Field Bee
Thanks for all the replies 
Most people that i have spoken too say they clip just the one wing so i was wondering if i was doing anything wrong.
I`m glad i did it in my shed because i would definately have lost a Q in the grass yesterday. Maybe i should get my bottle of CO2 out to stop them fidgeting
Darren.
Most people that i have spoken too say they clip just the one wing so i was wondering if i was doing anything wrong.
I`m glad i did it in my shed because i would definately have lost a Q in the grass yesterday. Maybe i should get my bottle of CO2 out to stop them fidgeting
Darren.
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Clipping the queens wings stops her flying which means that if she leaves the hive she falls on the ground nearby, sometimes right below the entrance. The bees that would have gone with her land on top of her, realise that she is going nowhere and accordingly go back into the hive they vacated, taking with them all the honey they would have taken with them to the new location. The old queen remains on the ground and is superceded by an emerging queen from one of the Q/cells that was created before the old queen departed. If by some chance she manages to walk back into the hive she will not be welcomed as she is past her best and not wanted - that's why she swarmed!!! QED
Hivemaker.
Queen Bee
You mean the bee's return to the hive and swarm with the first virgin to emerge,if you don't do something about it in time.
she is past her best and not wanted - that's why she swarmed!!! QED
Not remotely the rule and not the most likely reason either. They swarm as the process of reproduction, not because the queen is not up to it!
RAB
Not remotely the rule and not the most likely reason either. They swarm as the process of reproduction, not because the queen is not up to it!
RAB
Often the bees will supercede either shortly after or before swarming, agreed. With a clipped queen that is usually the case that she is a previous year's queen. Remember queens were good for two or more seasons, not so long back. But the idea that swarming is because she is past her best just is not true.
A queen is, by your definition, past its best after simply overwintering. I say, she could have continued for some time at the peak of her career, and might likely have carried on and founded a new nest - were she not clipped. You, now modifying what you previously stated as categoric, is pleasing to note. Rules only have a few exceptions
Regards, RAB
A queen is, by your definition, past its best after simply overwintering. I say, she could have continued for some time at the peak of her career, and might likely have carried on and founded a new nest - were she not clipped. You, now modifying what you previously stated as categoric, is pleasing to note. Rules only have a few exceptions
Regards, RAB
tonybloke
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well, the July '08 queen that I collected in a swarm in june 2009, is still going strong, I've had 3 supers off of the hive already this year, and there is another 3 capped supers on that hive at the moment! , So, she was hardly 'past her best' when she swarmed, the parent hive was just crowded!!
