Where should I use my queen?

[bpmurray]

My foray into queen rearing has ended with two queens, one of which absconded from the apidea and the other just laying with a QX across the entrance so she's going nowhere!

I have three hives that could probably do with requeening:

• My oldest queen is still laying well, but this is her third full season so I'm not confident she'll survive the winter
• My next oldest is about 2 months younger, but still of a certain age and, again, I'm concerned about her chances for next spring.
• A new queen is laying well but the bees are rather aggressive, following and pinging. And there's a bit of chalk brood too - not huge amounts, but I'd prefer if there wasn't. She's also from a line of swarmers.

None of the hives are showing signs of supersedure or swarming so presumably the masses think they're just fine. So where should I put the queen, or should I simply play the waiting game and move her to a nuc?

 

[beeno]

I would bite the bullet on the aggressive one and hope that your good genes supersede in due course.

 

[Cussword]

That would be the one I'd go for, but that's just my opinion.

If the bees seem happy with the other two queens ie, no sign of superseding (yet), the nasty one would be the squashed one.

.

 

[Finman]

My foray into queen rearing has ended with two queens, one of which absconded from the apidea and the other just laying with a QX across the entrance so she's going nowhere!

I have three hives that could probably do with requeening:

• My oldest queen is still laying well, but this is her third full season so I'm not confident she'll survive the winter
• My next oldest is about 2 months younger, but still of a certain age and, again, I'm concerned about her chances for next spring.
• A new queen is laying well but the bees are rather aggressive, following and pinging. And there's a bit of chalk brood too - not huge amounts, but I'd prefer if there wasn't. She's also from a line of swarmers.

None of the hives are showing signs of supersedure or swarming so presumably the masses think they're just fine. So where should I put the queen, or should I simply play the waiting game and move her to a nuc?

Squeeze them..

 

[Cussword]

Squeeze them..

All of them?

The op's question was, which one.

.

 

[Finman]

All of them?

The op's question was, which one.

.

Other beekeepers use to kill old queens when they rear new queens.
But you have different climate.
.

 

[oliver90owner]

Raise two more?

I always expect to cull a fair percentage of any raised queens. Not good laying pattern, low lay rate, poor temperament, even drone layers.