Clipping Queens

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darrenperrett

Field Bee
Joined
Jan 17, 2009
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Location
Devon
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
10
How do you get the queen to seperate her wings when clipping ?

I did three yesterday but clipped the ends of both wings as per Ted Hooper but wondered how you seperated them to clip one wing given that i was holding her between three fingers with scissors in the other.

Apart from accidentally from dropping one Q into a large bag of wood shavings everything went well and they all got put into hives with legs intact.


Darren.
 
I agree - why does it matter. I was embarrassed when a very experienced coleague looked at one of my queens that I had somehow managed to clip a good part of all four wings, but having thought about it, not sure it is worth losing sleep over.
 
What do the bees do with her when they don't think she is up to scratch, and she can't fly?

I'm sure there is a good reason for clipping, I'm not sure what it is.
 
They don't seem to worry if you clip the wings, even if you are heavy handed and clip all four - that colony was productive for 2 years until I replaced her. They do bother though if you damage her back leg or antennae, because then she won't lay properly, so you need to be extra careful about that.
 
>I'm sure there is a good reason for clipping, I'm not sure what it is.

To stop the queen flying.
 
Last edited:
Thats about all clipping does really....stops the queen flying.....what happens if she can fly?
 
Correct....and you can lose most of your bee's and honey crop for the year.
 
I understand that, I just think its the possible waste of a queen unless you take her out yourself and re-hive her.
 
I would sooner lose every queen that attempts to swarm, than lose all the bee's as well.
 
You carry on and let yours swarm then...i will continue to keep mine all together and strong....then see which one's produce the most honey.
 
That it is. And if you allow your bees to swarm as they wish to you will very rapidly find that a, you never get any honey at all, and b, your neighbours have taken a strong dislike to your hobby.

PH
 
So what happens to the queen when the rest of the colony decide to supercede her?

I suppose it depends where your priorities lie.
 
She carrys on laying eggs along with her daughter,often for a considerable time.
 

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