Queen introduction

[justsmith]

Was wondering if they is any better ways to requeen a hive than a method i used last year , last year i took a queens from a mating hive in to a butler cage and transferred it to a colonys which was queenless.

This year i am planing to raise about 5-8 queens, got one hive where finding the queen is a nightmare so hoping someone has a good method to requeen using cells/virgins/full lay queens.

 

[Michael Palmer]

Locate a ripe queen cell in the honey supers on a flow. No need to find the queen.

 

[justsmith]

Locate a ripe queen cell in the honey supers on a flow. No need to find the queen.

what will happen to the old queen, will they just think it's a normal supersedure or will she try to swarm?

 

[Poly Hive]

There should not be a queen cell in a super nor brood of any sort if the Q ex is working properly.

Probably the best method in the Uk is to use a nucleus.

PH

 

[Anduril]

Locate a ripe queen cell in the honey supers on a flow. No need to find the queen.

Supersedure re-queening, introducing a queen cell into the super.

 

[masterBK]

I use apideas and often introduce the last queen mated in it by putting paper over the feedhole in the crown board of the colony to be requeened and then placing the apidea over this with the bottom open (by pulling the draw almost out). Usually works although sometimes queen refuses to leave the apidea and go down through the feedhole and has to be picked up & dropped through after a few days. Also occasionally after the queen has left the bees remaining in the Apidea produce a queen cell or two which I need to destroy.

 

[colinc]

If you are requeening, the old queen needs to be removed first or they will kill the new one. More experienced people than me on here to tell you how long to leave it queenless before you put the new queen to them.

Think I am correct in saying that like a lot of americans and some commercial farmers, Michael Palmer doesn't use Queen excluders most of the time?

 

[Anduril]

I use apideas and often introduce the last queen mated in it by putting paper over the feedhole in the crown board of the colony to be requeened and then placing the apidea over this with the bottom open (by pulling the draw almost out). Usually works although sometimes queen refuses to leave the apidea and go down through the feedhole and has to be picked up & dropped through after a few days. Also occasionally after the queen has left the bees remaining in the Apidea produce a queen cell or two which I need to destroy.

Similar to one of my introductions, the queen refused to leave the Butler cage until I intervened.

 

[Anduril]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=32728&highlight=Locating
A few ways of finding the queen for you to try.

 

[Tremyfro]

Supersedure re-queening, introducing a queen cell into the super.

So what you are saying is that a queen cell in a box above the main brood area would be considered a supersedure by the colony?
Or would the main colony just produce a swarm?

 

[Anduril]

So what you are saying is that a queen cell in a box above the main brood area would be considered a supersedure by the colony?
Or would the main colony just produce a swarm?

It would be considered as a supersedure cell. You would wrap the sides of the cell with aluminium foil to stop any stings getting through the sides of the cell. When the virgin emerges she kills the old queen. Downside is that you have to wait for the virgin to be mated.

 

[Tremyfro]

That's interesting...I wonder why the bees would consider it a supersedure instead of a swarm cell...perhaps as there is only one and because other factors do not stimulate swarming procedure....hmmm.

 

[masterBK]

Chicken and egg . Queen cells as such don't trigger the swarming impulse. The swarm impulse triggers the building of swarm queen cells. If the swarm impulse has not been started then adding queen cells to a colony (in a BC or super above the Q excluder ) doesn't usually trigger swarming. However if you add a queen cell (of any type : emergency, supersedure or swarm cell ) to a queenright colony and congest it (eg take away all the supers for extraction but don't leave them with replacements) you may well end up with a swarm.