queen bee age

[whoosling]

This year will be my third, my question is how old do you let a queen get, presumably if all's well you leave her alone, when do you get to the point of rearing a new queen? someone told me they get rid of their queens after the third year? confused .com

 

[MartinL]

Maybe, . . . . Maybe not!

Difficult, but if you have 3 strong hives you could let her run to another year.

 

[TOBY-3652]

Maybe, . . . . Maybe not!

Difficult, but if you have 3 strong hives you could let her run to another year.

i have got 3 queens that are marked white this is there 3rd year and there all slow 2 get going will be changing them this year

 

[beeno]

My New Year's Resolution was to be proactive when it comes to renewing my queens. Two laying seasons replacing her before going into winter!

 

[REDWOOD]

Put her in a retirement nuc

 

[masterBK]

Whoosling: is the queen marked? If not, then she may not be as old as you think as bees can supersede their queen and remove the evidence (chew the emerged queen cell back).

 

[enrico]

Whoosling: is the queen marked? If not, then she may not be as old as you think as bees can supersede their queen and remove the evidence (chew the emerged queen cell back).

it is so easy to miss a queen change! The only sure way is to have them marked!
They will let you know when she is weakening by making swarm or supercedure cells
E

 

[HM Honey]

This is my third season and I will be replacing my two original queens this year I reckon (assuming the bees havent already done so). Might just give them a month or so to see how they are laying but will probably replace.

 

[Skyhook]

A lot is down to the individual Q- a good 3- or 4-year queen can be better than a badly-mated or scrub 1-year queen. For this reason I like to keep my old queens in a nuc until I'm confident the new one has been accepted and is a good'un.

.

 

[itma]

A lot is down to the individual Q- a good 3- or 4-year queen can be better than a badly-mated or scrub 1-year queen. For this reason I like to keep my old queens in a nuc until I'm confident the new one has been accepted and is a good'un.

.

The 'retirement nuc' (for a while at least) is the sensible way to go.


One point to note is that, as Q ages, so swarming becomes more likely.
A trigger to building QCs is reduced Q pheromone in the hive.
And the thinking is that her pheromone output halves every year.
// So an old Q can still head up a small colony. And if she was specially good, you could still be producing new Qs from her eggs ...

 

[whoosling]

thanks for answers, she is marked and did well last year so i'll wait and see (assuming I could even find her when I wanted to to do the deed anyway!!!!)

 

[Amari]

I once had an excellent marked queen for 5 years before she was superceded.

 

[whoosling]

I once had an excellent marked queen for 5 years before she was superceded.