Queens in general

[Erichalfbee]

It has been a strange year with three out of four splits failing to re-queen. Thank heavens for spare feeder nucs. Today I had to despatch a queen heading a Pagden AS as she had laid a whole 14x12 frame (both sides) solid with drone. She was only last year's queen from a reputable local breeder. Last year I bought a queen and she was thrown out by the nuc I put her in and a similar thing happened early this year.
Ten years ago, on my intermediate course, I had a practical session and the instructor was proudly showing off a FIVE year old queen still going strong ! Is it just me or is there something amiss with our queens these days?

 

[pargyle]

It has been a strange year with three out of four splits failing to re-queen. Thank heavens for spare feeder nucs. Today I had to despatch a queen heading a Pagden AS as she had laid a whole 14x12 frame (both sides) solid with drone. She was only last year's queen from a reputable local breeder. Last year I bought a queen and she was thrown out by the nuc I put her in and a similar thing happened early this year.
Ten years ago, on my intermediate course, I had a practical session and the instructor was proudly showing off a FIVE year old queen still going strong ! Is it just me or is there something amiss with our queens these days?

I was talking to Roger Patterson when he was at the local Portsmouth Convention and he was saying that his recent experience was that queens were poorer, running out of steam earlier, were disappearing and many had dubious laying characteristics. I have one colony where they seem determined to remain queenless no matter what I do with it ... and yet the one next to it has a queen that lays wall to wall brood - both derived from the same stock and open mated - makes no sense. As you know I don't treat my bees for varroa and they are on foundation free frames so there's nothing goes into the hives that the bees have not brought in - there's no sign of disease or varroa infestation. Wierd ...

 

[For want of a better word]

Seems to be getting progressively worse.... since around the passing of the Millennium.
I thought it was marking and or clipping that was causing early supercedure or queens simply vanishing... seems not to be the case..... as other beekeepers have remarked upon the problem.
Happening in both the Native and NZ stock although to a lesser degree in the Natives ( Near native Amm black devils or whatever takes your fancy to call our only endemic honeybee)

There is something wrong.... subliminal sublethal product of Big Pestcos influence?
Dunno

Yeghes da

 

[philipm]

It doesn't surprise me we poison them with all sorts of crap.Cull queens just because they don't suit what we think a perfect bee should be. Remove drones to check for varroa I could go on, in a way we are sowing the seeds of our own downfall.

 

[Beefriendly]

Must be a southern phenomena....I have a couple of home bred 3 and one 4 year old queen still going strong. All mated in good old North Yorkshire.

 

[Millet]

Over the past two years i have had five out of five splits fail to produce a mated Queen, i blame the large amount of swallows for my dilemma.

 

[Poly Hive]

Man to ask is ITLD as he is producing probably more queens a season than the vast majority.

PH

 

[Swarm]

Oldest I have is in her third season. Swarmed last month (recovered) after making no attempt previously. Since hiving up she has gone into hyper drive, they have three supers on and will probably need another this weekend. All splits have made rapid growth, native queens laying well, it's been a good season so far.

 

[madasafish]

I have two three year old Qs laying strong.
And out of 11 queens that emerged, all mated successfully. None grafted.

Colder environment and zero arable land..

 

[Bee Bumble]

i blame the large amount of swallows for my dilemma.

You are lucky to have them - they are scarce around here nowadays.

 

[masterBK]

I often keep queens for three years but it can catch you out. In the last couple of weeks I have been removing these older queens from colonies and requeening by uniting in strong nuclei headed by a marked home bred selected 2017 queens using newspaper (Yorkshire Post idreal for this!) held down by excluder. In four cases, the new queen was killed and in each case I discovered a supersedure queen (daughter of older queen) present in the BC below the excluder.

 

[Hivemaker.]

In four cases, the new queen was killed and in each case I discovered a supersedure queen (daughter of older queen) present in the BC below the excluder.

There is an easy way to help avoid that happening.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

You are lucky to have them - they are scarce around here nowadays.

We have had swallows return to our outbuildings for years but this year they nested under a gap in the roof and the nest got soaked during heavy rain. I've not seen them since ☹

 

[masterBK]

Years ago I used to wait a day after removing the old queen and didn't unite if I heard the queenless roar but with an out apiary I try to reduce the number of journeys to only one per week . I suppose I could have removed the old queen and waited a few days to see if they produced emergency cells before uniting but then I would have the extra job of finding and destroying all these cells before uniting . Please do tell if you have another way.

 

[Millet]

You are lucky to have them - they are scarce around here nowadays.

Not around this neck of the woods,the little devils nest here every year but who am i to stop them..

 

[Tom Bick]

Had a four year old queen fail last winter and not unusual to have three year old queens. Mating never seems to be a problem either but then there are loads of beekeepers in my neck of the woods.

That said and putting this down to coincidence and beekeeper error I had two hives recently go Q- and full of emergency QC's also someone else in a similar situation.