Evaluating young queens

[windfall]

I would like to hear how folks evaluate their young queens.
I just started this and even in year one I find myself in a position with several young queens in colonies ranging from 5-16 frames...started laying late july-early august.

I don't expect to take all of them into winter...this must be a fairly common situation.

How does one go about picking and choosing in a situation like this?

[Michael Bush]

Five deep frames I'd try to overwinter.  If they make it they will really take off in the spring.  Some of them will usually make it.  16 frames is a hive.

As far as picking queens look at how they are doing and their temperament.  Don't over complicate it.

[BlueBee]

I always like to have some backup queens incase one of my full sized hives goes queenless in the fall.  It's pretty much impossible to get a new queen in the fall due to the mating yards being shut down by late summer and the cold temps for shipping.  OK, nothing is impossible.....just expensive!

I've read posts of people banking queens over winter, but I have the impression that the failure rates are very high.  Never tried it.  One reason I play around with electric heat and small colonies is to provide me with a queen in an emergency.  If I don't need the queen come spring, put it in a nuc and sell it.

[Finski]

I keep 20% spare hives to repair the winter losses.
Usual winter loss is a drone layer, nosema has spoiled the queen. Or the queen has lost its laying power.

I do not like small winter nucs because winter donate then without  wanting.
Then the nuc or queen needs  the whole box of bees/brood that they become a productive hive.

It is much more easier  to make one box colony in late summer than rear up a small colony in spring.

At same time when a small nuc has one brood frame, a big one has eight.
In second generation the nuc has 2 brood frames a big one has 12-15 frames.
After a month the bees emerge and we see size of hives. Nuc has 6 frames a  big has 3 boxes.
To me it means first half of June.   This time  they lay the foragers of main yield.

[BjornBee]

My selection process begins with the selection of which queens and lines I perpetuate. Some information can be found here: http://www.nsqba.org/hygienictesting.html  This information is for selecting breeder queens or the best of the best.

Then after grafting and raising the queens, I select for such items as running on the comb, aggressiveness, brood buildup, pattern, disease, etc. I use 10 items for the queen evaluation.

Start by asking yourself what is important to you. What do you want out of a queen. Every beekeeper or breeder has different opinions on what is important. It is easy to just say "Just select the strongest colonies, and cull the queen from the weakest." But you certainly can do more than that.

[Michael Bush]

>"Just select the strongest colonies, and cull the queen from the weakest."

And that's how you maintain genetic diversity.