Difference between revisions of "Change queen"

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In late summer the old queen can be easily changed during feeding.   IN WHAT CASES DO I NEED TO DO THIS?
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If a queen needs to be replaced, a good time to change the queen is in late summer during feeding. 
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Reasons for changing a queen:
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*One reason for changing the queen could be that she is old. Brown bee queens can live and lay eggs for 3-4 years.
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*Another reason could be that you are interested in breeding and selecting for certain traits and thus improving your bees. Your improvement will of course be faster if you select and change the queens every year instead of waiting three to four years.
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*Your bees turn out to be [[Cross-breeding|crossbred]] and you would like to exchange your current queen with a purebred and puremated queen, so that the colony turns into the wanted type.
  
*Just remove the old queen and introduce the new one with an introducing cage WHAT IS THAT? between brood frames.
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See under [[Splitting a hive]] for more detailed descriptions on how to go about changing the queen.
*In large operations a new queen can be replaced with a queen excluder above the old queen. Because the colony will not take care of two queens the older one will be discarded by the workers.
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[[Category:Late summer]]
 
[[Category:Late summer]]

Revision as of 09:54, 2 November 2016

If a queen needs to be replaced, a good time to change the queen is in late summer during feeding. Reasons for changing a queen:

  • One reason for changing the queen could be that she is old. Brown bee queens can live and lay eggs for 3-4 years.
  • Another reason could be that you are interested in breeding and selecting for certain traits and thus improving your bees. Your improvement will of course be faster if you select and change the queens every year instead of waiting three to four years.
  • Your bees turn out to be crossbred and you would like to exchange your current queen with a purebred and puremated queen, so that the colony turns into the wanted type.

See under Splitting a hive for more detailed descriptions on how to go about changing the queen.