Requeening. First stage done

[Anduril]

May I suggest:
Remember to use protected, ripe queen cell method, the virgin queen does all the regicide stuff, neatly, quickly and deadly.

In this situation a virgin queen may end up mating with evil drones and no change in temperament. Defeats the objective IMHO.

 

[REDWOOD]

Well done.
Pete's queens have been a joy to introduce in my limited experience. I never bother removing attendants.
In a few weeks you'll have lovely gentle orange bees

I hope so lol, just introduced one

 

[Obee1]

I hope so lol, just introduced one

Is your new petes queen resident in her new colony already? How did you introduce her?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Is your new petes queen resident in her new colony already? How did you introduce her?

Same as I usually do - although this time there was a day and a half of queenlessness due to a breakdown in communications.

 

[Obee1]

Just looked into the nuc today. Queen is still alive phew! But i haven't removed the plastic tab from her cage yet. Being my first time at this I have no idea how to tell if they accept her yet. Many bees were on the cage. Some looked like they were waggling! Couldnt see any biting ( not that I've ever seen a bee bite) but couldn't see feeding her either. On balance I think it safer to leave tab in for now.
How do you know they accept her? How long can she be kept locked in that little Puzzle cage?
Obee

 

[Obee1]

Same as I usually do - although this time there was a day and a half of queenlessness due to a breakdown in communications.

Assume you mean you normally make queenless for one hour then just pop he in with cage plus attendants. No nuc involved. So doesn't it make it risky is they are queen-less for day and half.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Good luck Obee1: I just decided today to do the same on an F1 Buckfast I bred last autumn. Mother was not a HM Queen. I have cheated by putting in two queen excluders and waiting a week. (She had had the run of four deeps and I don't have the skills or the stamina.) It's not just termperament but laying pattern and overall performance.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Assume you mean you normally make queenless for one hour then just pop he in with cage plus attendants. No nuc involved. So doesn't it make it risky is they are queen-less for day and half.

Not risky, just different to what I usually do - it did mean however that we had to carefully go through a whole double brood of very agressive bees and remove each and every emergency queencell. I must say though that even before we'd finished putting the hive back together, the tone of the colony had changed and they didn't sound anywhere near as agressive as they usually do.
As for you queen, she'll last quite a while in there - another reason for leaving the attendants in there if for some reason there is any long lasting doubt of the colony accepting her I reckon you should remove the tab tomorrow, sounds like they're ready for her.

 

[Obee1]

Not risky, just different to what I usually do - it did mean however that we had to carefully go through a whole double brood of very agressive bees and remove each and every emergency queencell. I must say though that even before we'd finished putting the hive back together, the tone of the colony had changed and they didn't sound anywhere near as agressive as they usually do.
As for you queen, she'll last quite a while in there - another reason for leaving the attendants in there if for some reason there is any long lasting doubt of the colony accepting her I reckon you should remove the tab tomorrow, sounds like they're ready for her.

Umm. I didn't leave the attendants in there. So much conflicting advice on that one. Being my first time I don't have a usual method. Of course if this works I will prob never be brave enough to change to a different way. Jumping ahead there. It hasn't worked yet!

You know you're hooked on beeking when you spend all day worrying about your poor queen in that tiny cage. Still at least she's no longer in a Jiffy bag.

 

[Tremyfro]

Hi.....how very dare you say you didn't know which hive was which....after taking you round and introducing you to all my girls.....they will be mightily offended!
If you think you were confused...imagine us when we saw the Green Queen in one of the nucs!

You will be so pleased when you have finished the requeening and gradually see all those golden girls emerging......they are very pretty.
I might have some surplus Queens if the Nucs 2+3 turn out to have queens after all. Won't be for 10 days though. We didn't find any more queens cells sadly.

 

[tudorcd]

In this situation a virgin queen may end up mating with evil drones and no change in temperament. Defeats the objective IMHO.

Good question - the queen does not usually mate with drones from her hive, and my experience is that queen cells from breeders of gentle queens transform the whole worker population back to gentle bees after 9 weeks.
I gather that the genetics is quite complicated, so the heterogeneity of the queen mating with 15-20 drones means that the probability of defensive bees again is low.
And the queen cell method is quick and easy ... for us simple folks.

 

[Anduril]

Good question - the queen does not usually mate with drones from her hive, and my experience is that queen cells from breeders of gentle queens transform the whole worker population back to gentle bees after 9 weeks.
I gather that the genetics is quite complicated, so the heterogeneity of the queen mating with 15-20 drones means that the probability of defensive bees again is low.
And the queen cell method is quick and easy ... for us simple folks.

That would mean sourcing a queen cell from somewhere and it is not guaranteed to produce gentle bees. The situation in question is using a mated queen, different scenario.

 

[tudorcd]

Hi,
Do your queen breeders make queen cells available ?

 

[Anduril]

Mainly mated queens, but virgin queens are also sold.

 

[tudorcd]

As a matter of interest, what would the prices be ?
Thanks.

 

[Anduril]

Mated queens anything from £25-£60. Virgin queens around £10.

 

[tudorcd]

Do many clubs teach grafting etc. and make queen cells available to members ?
Or do many bk's let the bees make their own queens from a frame with eggs if the hive is queenless ? From a nice hive, or course ...

 

[Obee1]

As a matter of interest, what would the prices be ?
Thanks.

My mated queen cost me £49 including postage so quite an expensive thing to have to repeat if all goes wrong. In my case the overriding factor was wanting gentle bees so going to a breeder renowned for his very gentle bees is what I did. Just wish the queen introduction wasn't so fraught with danger!
Incidentally I have another aggresive hive which is headed by the daughter of this one. I will also be requeening that one but will be using a different type of gentle bee from a different breeder. Wonder which I will prefer!

 

[Obee1]

Do many clubs teach grafting etc. and make queen cells available to members ?
Or do many bk's let the bees make their own queens from a frame with eggs if the hive is queenless ? From a nice hive, or course ...

there are queen grafting classes or indeed I have a hive of buckfasts that are lovely and I could pinch some eggs from - but the fastest/ most reliable way to change my aggresive hive is to buy a mated queen from the experts. Of course many Beeks raise their own queens - I may well do that later on this year to make increase.

 

[Obee1]

Hi.....how very dare you say you didn't know which hive was which....after taking you round and introducing you to all my girls.....they will be mightily offended!
If you think you were confused...imagine us when we saw the Green Queen in one of the nucs!

You will be so pleased when you have finished the requeening and gradually see all those golden girls emerging......they are very pretty.
I might have some surplus Queens if the Nucs 2+3 turn out to have queens after all. Won't be for 10 days though. We didn't find any more queens cells sadly.

I'm sure if I stood in your bee yard I could name every hive! ( they all have numbers stuck on them ). You have got lots now!
Surplus quuen sounds good. Gone off queen cell raising. Disaster. I opened the one you gave me and there was a shrivelled larva in there. Not my best beek success. Dropping it definitely didn't help!

Can't wait for my requeening to be done and raise a brood of gingers.