Introducing a queen tomorrow and need advice!!

annette · April 16, 2011, 12:46:59 AM

Hi dear people

Need some advice. I had a swarm move into one of my empty supers. They were roaring and I placed a frame of eggs into the super to see if they were queenless. Yes they made queen cells, so they were queenless.

I just purchased a mated queen from a beek around these parts, and tomorrow I am going to introduce the caged queen into the swarm hive. But my question is::

Do I just leave the queen cells in there when I introduce the mated queen, or do I remove them?? I am thinking the pheromones of the mated queen will be stronger than the 2 week old queen cell and they would probably accept her??

Any help on this matter is much appreciated.

Thanks
Annette

Hemlock · April 16, 2011, 01:45:33 AM

Quote from: annette on April 16, 2011, 12:46:59 AM
...the 2 week old queen cell...

Tough call. Those queen cells seem ready to pop. What if they emerge the while the introduced queen is still in her cage. There will be a fight. No telling the results. You could end up with an injured queen when it's all said & done. I suppose you could remove the frame with the queen cells on it. do you know anyone who has a queenless hive that could use the cells?

Why don't you want to use the queen cells? Were the eggs old?

Tommyt · April 16, 2011, 02:42:53 AM

Do you have enough bee's to keep the q cells alive in another box (they are close to hatching :shock:)
If so I would pull the frame or cut the cells out
keep them for a couple days as insurance they accept the new one
If you cut out the cells
They may think the new one is theirs returned from a mating flight
JMHO

Good luck

Tommyt

wd · April 16, 2011, 03:10:24 AM

To me, the mind set is already in motion, you could go through queen after queen after queen. removing cells or not. I wouldn't have purchased a new queen, I'd get out of the way, sure, there's a chance they might accept her, is it possible to use her some where else?

iddee · April 16, 2011, 03:24:18 AM

I'm betting the swarm queen is still there. They will most times supercede the old queen after swarming. You just stepped up the time for them to do it when you gave them eggs. I think you should find her first, then decide if you want an assembly line queen from a breeder, or one from the genetics of the hive you took the frame from.

BjornBee · April 16, 2011, 07:17:19 AM

Quote from: iddee on April 16, 2011, 03:24:18 AM
I'm betting the swarm queen is still there. They will most times supercede the old queen after swarming. You just stepped up the time for them to do it when you gave them eggs. I think you should find her first, then decide if you want an assembly line queen from a breeder, or one from the genetics of the hive you took the frame from.

Nice observation iddee.

Most hives swarm every year. Most feral colonies go into winter with first year queens. And I have found out that about 50% of my swarms collected will requeen within the first 30 days, probably being most primary swarm queens being replaced. It's natures way of playing the best odds, and giving the colony the BEST chance of survival, by using first year queens.

For years, some would suggest replacing the swarm queen due to some notion that keeping swarm queens would foster "swarmy" genetic selection.

A better reason to replace swarm queens, is the fact that they will do it themselves anyways. So you can cut down the lost time of having them go through supercedure, which is something a swarm could benefit without doing, as they need to do much to get through the first winter.

Letting the bees replace the queen themselves perpetuates perhaps a good line if you know where the bees came from. But putting in a frame of eggs allows you to select the genetics from your best stock also.

annette · April 16, 2011, 01:13:43 PM

Wow, this is all really good advice and not what I had expected. It makes sense to me as well.

OK I will check out this hive and see how the queen cell is looking, and also look for another queen that they are perhaps superceding. I can use this purchased queen in a split that I can do this morning.

The eggs I had used came from a feral hive that I helped to cut out of an old oak tree and they have been a very strong and feisty hive from the start. So it makes sense to let them keep this queen cell.

When I had contacted beekeepers 2 weeks ago for a mated queen, this swarm hive was roaring and I never found the queen when searching. That is the reason I wanted to get a mated queen to give them the best boost possible. But as the queen cell progressed and I never heard back about any queen being available, I just accepted that they could keep that queen cell.

Then I received a call from a beekeeper that he could pull a queen for me from one of his hive if I want, so I went and got her last night. My gut feeling was to not get this queen and I probably should have followed it.

OK I will do a split and hopefully all will be well.

Thanks for all the help, which I truly appreciate
Annette