Regicide: The queens must die

TimV · #1 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 07:38 AM

This is the least pleasant part of beekeeping for me. Re-queening. She is the mother of the whole colony, and has served me well. She has helped feed my family, and the families of hundreds of workers at almond, raspberry and avocado ranches.

But like all agriculture, there are thorns. Culling of one sort or another is simply part of the curse, and one can't engage in serious beekeeping without occasionally replacing queens any more than a rancher can raise cattle without castrating 99 percent of his male stock. To get gentle bees, which are especially important now that our whole district is "africanized", to get queens with plenty of sperm stored for a large brood and a high percentage of workers to drones, to keep a hive happy and healthy, it needs a young, properly bred queen.

So today is the last day of this unpleasant chore. Over the last week I've killed most of my queens, and now the final bunch of hives is ready for a new queen. Here is one that I culled. You can see she's feeling the size of the cell to determine whether to lay a worker or a drone:

I put in either mated queens which I buy, or a queen "cell" which is like a cocoon ready to hatch. Here's a cell I put in a hive last week.

She will hopefully hatch the day after she's introduced. She was grafted as a day old larva by a friend, and one needs to be accurate! One day late and the first queen that hatches in the queen nursery will kill all the others! One day too soon, and you can't transport them. If all goes well, she will go on her one and only mating flight, and if she's not eaten by a bird, dragonfly, can find her way back, etc... she well then begin her duties. I'll check up in about two weeks to see if she made it.

baron · #2 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 07:58 AM

Tim, the pictures are amazing. I did not know about the need to replace the queen bee. How often do you need to replace the queen?

Thank you for sharing.

TimV · #3 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 08:06 AM

Typically once per year, but sometimes you can skip a year. Also, it's nice to have a properly raised queen if you're dividing one colony to make two. The bees will make a queen on their own, but its usually an "emergency queen". The bees go into a panic and start feeding older larva the royal jelly, and when these hatch, they haven't developed near as well as a bee fed with royal jelly from the one day old stage.

NateLanning · #4 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 10:51 AM

Thanks for posting this, Tim. I always enjoy reading about your stewardship.

Zenas · #5 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 11:47 AM

I love these posts.

TimV · #6 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 05:50 PM

Thanks! I'm just back, and introduced 40 queens to new hives. They normally cost about 15 dollars each, but something happened to the cells (much cheaper but much greater risk of failure) I ordered and my friend just gave all 40 to me free! I insisted several times that I'd pay, but he dug in his heals. Hopefully I'll be able to help him some time in return. He paints cute little green dots on the back of the queens so they're easier to find when you're checking up on things.

They are in little boxes with a hole filled with candy. They would kill her since she doesn't smell like rest of the hive, but by the time they eat all the hard candy away to try to kill her, she smells like the new hive, and it sinks in that they need a queen. Normally you get over 90 success doing it that way.

Re4mdant · #7 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 05:57 PM

Very

**PuritanCovenanter** · #8 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 06:34 PM

Tim,

You are simply amazing to watch from cyberspace. Thanks brother.

BJClark · #9 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 08:14 PM

another friend was talking about this on her facebook the other day..

I meant to ask her why she had to kill off the queen bee..now I don't have to..

thanks for sharing..

TimV · #10 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 10:29 AM

Here's a queen cell, surrounded by normal worker and drone cells, so you can get an idea of the size difference. The opening is where workers of a certain age can feed la infanta special Royal Jelly they produce from special glands. They'll close the opening in a couple days, and she'll hatch in about a week.

puritanpilgrim · #11 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 12:22 PM

Do you sell honey?

TimV · #12 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 12:24 PM

Yes, but three years of drought did more than send Ken evacuating the other day....I hardly got any honey this year!

Brad · #13 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 11:04 PM

Very cool stuff, Tim. An old charismaniac pastor I knew out in SLO named Delmar Ashurst had patented some kind of matchbox-looking device for introducing new queens way back in the '60's. Someday I'm gonna get out that way again and come lay eyes on all the awesome things you show us here, Lord willing.

***Semper Fidelis*** · #14 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 11:15 PM

Tim,

Thanks so much for this post. It reminds me how much God utters forth speech through His creation.

JoyFullMom · #15 (**permalink**) 10-08-2009, 11:22 PM

Fascinating! I'll have to show my kids in the am.

My husband kept bees for a short time when he was younger. He talks about doing it with the boys. We live on 5 acres and I'm afraid the neighbors will NOT appreciate it!