Newbie question,what would you do.

[fullframe45]

Newbie question ,what would you do in theese circumstances. Last year i had way more colonies than i could cope with and due to my limited knowledge it was mayhem. Anyway my plans for next year 2023 are to only keep three hives and concentrate more on learning rather than honey production. So my question is .One of the hives has an old queen now coming up to her third year but was the best producing hive for last two seasons so she is getting on a bit now and another hive that was always very defensive when inspected and im thinking of replacing that queen also next year .If they come through winter ok, Would i be wise to order two mated queens now for delivery in the spring next year. Or wait till spring and see what happens. Will i be able to place an order then or will it be too late.Maybee limited queens available etc . Thank You.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

if you have 'way too many' colonies (what exactly does that mean - is there such a thing?) introduce both queens to the gatepost and unite with another two of your colonies.

 

[enrico]

I always pick my nicest queen's. They lead the hives I keep. I reduce my hives by dispatching not so good queen's and combining the hives with the good queen's. Spring is an ideal time to do this as the queen's to be dispatched are easy to find as there are fewer bees and on first inspection bees are rarely aggressive.

 

[fullframe45]

Sorry i meant to say this last summer .Anyway i had four DB hives and that was enough for me but there was a lot of swarming going on.From what i read on here most of the posters were reporting a very swarmy season also. Along with having to split my hives and several swarms i collected it was all getting very hectic.I I lost two hives to paralysis ,two went into drone laying so i had to keep uniting swarms to try and keep numbers up and im not a fan of doing that .I had problems with wasps attacking a hive.So i am down to the three hives that i mentioned.So i have no doner queens available.Hence my question.

 

[fian]

Newbie question ,what would you do in theese circumstances. Last year i had way more colonies than i could cope with and due to my limited knowledge it was mayhem. Anyway my plans for next year 2023 are to only keep three hives and concentrate more on learning rather than honey production. So my question is .One of the hives has an old queen now coming up to her third year but was the best producing hive for last two seasons so she is getting on a bit now and another hive that was always very defensive when inspected and im thinking of replacing that queen also next year .If they come through winter ok, Would i be wise to order two mated queens now for delivery in the spring next year. Or wait till spring and see what happens. Will i be able to place an order then or will it be too late.Maybee limited queens available etc . Thank You.

The easiest without cost is:
In spring during the first visit, you locate the queens of their respective colonies.
1. You place the queen of the strongest in the weakest, thereby avoiding the swarm and it is likely that the colony will lead with a supersedure
2. You put the queen of the aggressive colony in the strong one, you should know if her aggressiveness is external or genetic conditional. If it's the latter, delete it.
3. Balance the leftover honey frames between the three colonies.
On subsequent visits.
1. Keep an eye on the colony of the good queen and if she enters as a supersedure, remove the queen to another colony or make a nucleus.
2. Thoroughly check the original aggressive colony and perform mite counts and treat if necessary.
3. Depending on the behavior of the aggressive queen decides.

 

[hemo]

Raise new queens from your best hive/s if you like her characteristics. Learning to harvest your own QC's and raising them will gain one much more knowledge and experience vs buying them in for conveneance.

At some stage they might superscede/replace her (3 -4 cells or less) or even more likely will throw up some nice swarm cells, which ever they do don't simply quish the QC's but harvest them to raise your own queens.
Have a couple of nucs ready preped and introduce bees from your colonies and add the frame with the QC and bees, if the bees to be used are from a different colony then make up a nuc and carefully cut out around the QC with a good edge of wax around it and gently press the edges of the wax to another frame. (If you mix bees from two colonies they will fight) .

What ever you do if harvesting queens cells is not to shake or drop the frame/s with them on.
Typically I like to harvest a qc as late as I dare which means exactly knowing the when the cell is capped, I then harvest them on day 13 or 14.

Meanwhile clip the old Queen and also leave one nice queen cell in the colony, that way if they try to swarm you will only lose the old queen and not the bees and the new Queen will take over to head the colony.

Once any new queenS have mated then one can get rid of the other queens you don't want and /or unite colonies to have less.

 

[ericbeaumont]

keep three hives

Four down to three isn't much of a reduction if four is 'way too much'. How about two? Would leave you spare kit to carry out swarm management, aka the AS.

there was a lot of swarming

At your stage of the game, seven-day checks should alert you to swarm preps and allow time to manage the event, so aim to stick to that schedule and have the kit ready.

I had no real structure for my first three years and was reactive to colony development rather than proactive through observation, didn't have enough kit and hadn't embedded the swarm cycle into my head. Winter is a good time to start a plan.

always very defensive

First for the chop, by the JBM method above. There is no benefit in keeping her if you already know she produces a defensive colony that makes your work uncomfortable and spreads her genes far and wide. Once you've killed her, unite the lot to the placid colony immediately.

Now you're down to two: the big united colony is almost certain to want to swarm or supersede to replace the third-year queen. Summer supersedure means swarming, so don't leave them to it if you see 3 or fewer QCs.

When you see QCs, make an AS and leave one good QC in the split box; make a couple of nucs with sealed QCs as reserve; check all colonies thoroughly six days later and remove any EQCs.

When the splits have mated and are laying well, remove the old colony queen and unite a nuc. Same with the third colony, which you haven't described. This will leave you with 2023 queens heading two colonies by midsummer, plus an insurance nuc. Sell it then if you wish, or the following spring.

The trick to maintaining colony numbers is to unite surplus - keeping the best or newest queens - at or just before the main flow, which will give you strong colonies (so plenty of honey) and new queens. Alternatively, overwinter or sell surplus.

Enrico's advice will make life easier: keep only good temper and cull bad in spring before drones are about to spread genes.

concentrate more on learning rather than honey production

Good plan, but remember that bees are keener on honey production than learning.

 

[fullframe45]

Some good replies and tips for me to work to. I will forget about ordering any replacements and see how they get through winter first. Thank you

 

[Swarm]

The best queens are the ones you raise yourself.

 

[Ian123]

The best queens are the ones you raise yourself.

You’ve clearly been buying them from the wrong place

 

[Swarm]

Nope, it's far more rewarding to raise your own.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It must depend on what you want from your bees. I love a new home made queen, it's quite exciting but I still buy in queens when the influence of the local stock overwhelms
Commercially it must be different

 

[drex]

I have learned so much by rearing my own queens. It is fun and very satisfying. I graft but you do not have tto. Just transferring a selected frame of eggs into a queenless colony is enough. The quality of my bees has improved tremendously in a few years by selecting and culling

 

[fullframe45]

Thank you for comments ,But my worry is if all goes well i will ONLY have the three hives going in to spring Because i only have Three . One has an old queen that may or may not go through winter and i will replace her next year . The other hive i will also be replacing her .That only leaves me with one( good hive) .I have read that in spring there is also a waiting list for mated queens .So do i order now or take pot luck . Thank You.

 

[ericbeaumont]

do i order now or take pot luck

None of us can make that decision for you, but by sorting out and making the best of what you have you will gain greater satisfaction and experience.

You have three colonies - one Q is old, another defensive, the third I assume is fine. That is enough ammo for you to resolve colony numbers and temper.

due to my limited knowledge it was mayhem

Been there! It will get better, but it takes a few seasons to learn management routines as the season is so short, and by the time the next starts, much has been forgotten.

Your plan to improve your knowledge is the better way forward, but don't wait until next season to start learning.

 

[enrico]

Another bit of advice! You say you have an old queen. You know she is likely to be replaced but you don't want her to swarm. During late spring they are likely to do one of the above so.... When you see queen cells take the old queen, a frame of brood and a frame of food and put them in a nuc. Thin down the queen cells to one nice one even if it one that is not sealed but you can see it is charged. Let them get on with it apart from checking for extra queen cells in five days and removing them. Leave the queen in the nuc. Once the new queen is laying get rid of the old queen and combine. If all goes to rats then the old queen is still there for a back up. This is the ideal way to control swarming but you need an empty nuc for each hive!
E