Requeen every year

[Hachi]

Happy to make an offer for it if you think selling it would help? Serious offer

Apologies, didn't take on board it was a Christmas pressy. Ordered a copy

 

[Hachi]

No worries

 

[CaptainCymru]

No worries

Sorry mate

 

[Curly green finger's]

yes he was, he did breed Buckies at one remote apiary as well

I thought you had said or recommended his queen's.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I thought you had said or recommended his queen's.

Yes - where have I said otherwise?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Yes - where have I said otherwise?

Nowhere emyr, post #10 swarm said no?.
I thought Steve would of known him?.
I never enquired about his queen's after you gave me his name and details..whenever that was, I've slept since then..

 

[MerryBee]

yes...
I think SWMBO I had that book for Christmas as well - SWMBO likes to give me a joke beekeeping book every year to pay me back for the hoover I bought her years ago
I think she went a bit too far in 2017 though - she bought me the BBKA book!

You bought her a hoover for Christmas.? You are lucky you didnt get a toilet brush in return.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Nowhere emyr, post #10 swarm said no?.
I thought Steve would of known him?.

I think I knew him pretty well, spent many wonderful hours at his breeding apiary at Abercych not far from Cenarth falls - he tried and experimented with many things, and not just bees his stock started from a swarm of dark local bees that had moved into an empty hive (he gave up beekeeping for a while many years ago) he never claimed that his bees were pure AMM, he bred for calmness, good yields and fecundity. I remember he tried a few Colonsay queens for a few seasons (open mated and II) but unfortunately they were plagued with serious chalkbrood issues so he discontinued that line.
I can't fault his queens, my stock was founded on the first ever queen I bought in many years ago (number 5 queen) whose direct descendant still occupies the same hive position and queen number, I really hope the last queen I had off him last year survives the winter and is as good as the first - she showed real promise last summer.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You bought her a hoover for Christmas.? You are lucky you didnt get a toilet brush in return.

no - we already had one, I bought it for her birthday

 

[Nige.Coll]

If you want to avoid having to have all the extra kit for splitting colonies then that is one way of doing it but in reality every 2 years works just as well, depends on the bees really, I find mine don't usually swarm until the queen is 3 if the other factors are controlled. I do use a lot of double brood though.

 

[Swarm]

Double brood? Fecund queen?

Demarree, Amm queen.

 

[Arfermo]

Just been reading a book I got from Santa called Wisdom for Beekeepers - 500 tips for successful beekeeping. Tip 345 - you should re -queen every year , surely that is utter tripe?

Stop reading books and rely on your own common sense. That is what I do and it works very well for me.

 

[Michael Palmer]

I would never requeen every year. I wouldn’t requeen every other year. I only requeen by performance. Since I’m running a breeding program, If I did that, how would I ever select for longevity in my queens? Or a lower propensity to swarm? Or stocks that know how to properly supercede...you know, before the queens are failing.

 

[Michael Palmer]

I would never requeen every year. I wouldn’t requeen every other year. I only requeen by performance.

As an example, I chose a queen as a breeder in 2015. The original colony had been established in 2001. Never requeened. Always a top producer in her apiary. Never needed supplemental feeding. Never had a dip in production because they swarmed or waited too long to supercede. After two years of great daughters, I sent her to an II breeder to cross some daughters with the USDA vsh stock. He managed to kill her.

 

[mbc]

If queens have ticked enough boxes not to be culled in the first few years of their life then they get to live out their dotage in my apiaries surrounding the mating sites as I see value in them as drone mothers.

 

[Curly green finger's]

If queens have ticked enough boxes not to be culled in the first few years of their life then they get to live out their dotage in my apiaries surrounding the mating sites as I see value in them as drone mothers.

How long has that lasted for three seasons and then they supersede that autumn?
Ive got queen's one being yours and they are going into there third season.
You've given me a perfect reason to keep them.

I've a cast swarm queen she is going into her third season she has been kept because of different reasons am I being sentimental?
Where's the line breading or love because she was from a distant line of your relatives?

 

[Antipodes]

Generally speaking it is true (isn't it?), that the egg laying of a queen declines with age. There are exceptional queens of course. They remind me of hens in that respect, but there are exceptional hens. If you offered me a point of lay pullet or the two year old hen, I'll take the point of lay, except if the two year old was an exceptional layer and I was interested in breeding from her. Generally speaking, at the commencement of the first brood cycle, it is best for the queen to be young.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Generally speaking it is true (isn't it?), that the egg laying of a queen declines with age. There are exceptional queens of course. They remind me of hens in that respect, but there are exceptional hens. If you offered me a point of lay pullet or the two year old hen, I'll take the point of lay, except if the two year old was an exceptional layer and I was interested in breeding from her. Generally speaking, at the commencement of the first brood cycle, it is best for the queen to be young.

It may decline but when you are breading queen's I can see where Michael is coming from.
Although keeping queen's for rearing by what I read is best in there second season still young and laying really well.
What percentage of queens are worth keeping for rearing beyond this is it a exception to the norm?
I bread astrualope chickens, excuse the spelling I'm tired, and good laying hens are rare as they get older. as are the white ones again we have one out of 25 colour is hard to be bread and to get a white hen you have to cross bread them and then cross them back to keep the white genetics..

Im going to mull over this in my sleep good night!

 

[mbc]

How long has that lasted for three seasons and then they supersede that autumn?
Ive got queen's one being yours and they are going into there third season.
You've given me a perfect reason to keep them.

I've a cast swarm queen she is going into her third season she has been kept because of different reasons am I being sentimental?
Where's the line breading or love because she was from a distant line of your relatives?

I don't see my stock as particularly long lived, most will not make the end of their second full season without trying to swarm or supercede, and they're generally best for keeping a big nest and filling lots of supers in their first full season, either a spring mated queen building a big colony straight away or an autumn mated queen building a big colony the following spring and summer. If they do get to their second full season without trying to swarm then they're keepers. The oldest I've recorded seem to fizzle out in their fourth year.
I think a queens lifespan can be measured in surges, if she swarms and has to re-establish a nest from scratch then she's basically spent.
Probably not a good advert but I've always been careful not to misrepresent my stock.

 

[Antipodes]

It may decline but when you are breading queen's I can see where Michael is coming from.
Although keeping queen's for rearing by what I read is best in there second season still young and laying really well.
What percentage of queens are worth keeping for rearing beyond this is it a exception to the norm?
I bread astrualope chickens, excuse the spelling I'm tired, and good laying hens are rare as they get older. as are the white ones again we have one out of 25 colour is hard to be bread and to get a white hen you have to cross bread them and then cross them back to keep the white genetics..

Im going to mull over this in my sleep good night!

Australorp. Nice ones....had them many years ago. You won't go wrong with the good Aussie breed.