Do224
Drone Bee
- Joined
- May 27, 2020
- Messages
- 1,181
- Reaction score
- 539
- Location
- North Cumbria
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- I aim for 4…often becomes 6
Do queens generally perform similarly throughout their life before ‘tailing’ off in their final season?
Is their first season their best or do they peak somewhere in the middle of their life? In terms of laying pattern and speed/quantity of laying I suppose…
Are there other things to consider? Do they become less settled and more likely to swarm as they get older?
When do people replace their queens or do you always wait for them to become a problem?
My favourite queen arrived in a swarm to my bait hive in 2023. She was unmarked. No idea how old she is. She laid like a train and this colony was my strongest by far coming into this spring. She tried to swarm and was nuc’d on 1st May. Nuc was combined with another hive and again she tried to swarm and was nuc’d again. Nuc was combined back with original hive which had tried to swarm again with her daughter a few weeks earlier and then failed to requeen during the cold weather. So, now she’s back in her original hive again and once again laying like a train almost completely filling frames with wall to wall brood. A couple of weeks ago there was a single charged cell and I knocked it down without thinking. I guess they were trying to supersede her although I don’t know why given how well she’s laying. No more cells in the last two weeks though so they seem to have given up. She’s my most prolific queen by far and also produces the friendliest bees I’ve ever worked with. Her daughter and granddaughter are now heading up two of my other colonies. They’re doing alright but I’m not seeing the huge slabs of brood that she produces. Will they likely get into their stride and start performing like their mother/grandmother, perhaps next year?
Is their first season their best or do they peak somewhere in the middle of their life? In terms of laying pattern and speed/quantity of laying I suppose…
Are there other things to consider? Do they become less settled and more likely to swarm as they get older?
When do people replace their queens or do you always wait for them to become a problem?
My favourite queen arrived in a swarm to my bait hive in 2023. She was unmarked. No idea how old she is. She laid like a train and this colony was my strongest by far coming into this spring. She tried to swarm and was nuc’d on 1st May. Nuc was combined with another hive and again she tried to swarm and was nuc’d again. Nuc was combined back with original hive which had tried to swarm again with her daughter a few weeks earlier and then failed to requeen during the cold weather. So, now she’s back in her original hive again and once again laying like a train almost completely filling frames with wall to wall brood. A couple of weeks ago there was a single charged cell and I knocked it down without thinking. I guess they were trying to supersede her although I don’t know why given how well she’s laying. No more cells in the last two weeks though so they seem to have given up. She’s my most prolific queen by far and also produces the friendliest bees I’ve ever worked with. Her daughter and granddaughter are now heading up two of my other colonies. They’re doing alright but I’m not seeing the huge slabs of brood that she produces. Will they likely get into their stride and start performing like their mother/grandmother, perhaps next year?