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Intro a queen of one race to a hive of another

5K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  beezy 
#1 ·
What is the best way to introduce a queen of one race to a hive of another? I am trying to introduce Carniolan queens to hives of Itialians and Buckfast. Pulling the old queen for a day or two before does not work, when the queen is released they try to kill her. Making a nuc and waiting a day does not work either. Spraying with sugar water, liquid smoke or arrid xtra dry doesn't work.
Surely the is a way to do this without losing the queen.
 
#2 ·
Beezy -

There are no guarantees when it comes to requeening. There ARE things one can do to increase the odds of acceptance, however. Starting the queen in nuc and then joining with the newspaper method tends to be the safest way to get acceptance from all I've heard by beekeepers over the years.

Over the last few years I've stopped buying queens from breeders and have gone to letting my own bees raise their own using the genetic stock from my area. The more I study and read on the issue of queens, the more I feel compelled to working with and selecting from the stock I have within my own apairy .

Here is a good post by Aaron Morris a few years ago that addresses some of your thoughts.

---------------QUOTE----------
Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 14:33:30 EDT
Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology <BEE-L@ALBNYVM1.BITNET>
Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology <BEE-L@ALBNYVM1.BITNET>
From: Aaron Morris <SYSAM@ALBANY.BITNET>
Subject: Requeening: When and How?

Requeening is always a tricky exercise, whenever you attempt it.
Chances of success are lessened with increased population, hence the
best time to requeen is early spring or late fall. Most literature will
suggest that you introduce a new queen into a nuc made up of frames from
the hive to be requeened. The new queen is introduced to the nuc box
(which is of course queenless). When the bees in the nuc have accepted
the new queen, the nuc should then be reunited with the original hive
using the newspaper method, after the original queen is killed and
removed from the hive.


This method requires a good deal of manipulation, first to set up a nuc
and introduce a new queen, then finding the original queen in the old
hive to remove her, and uniting the nuc and hive after the new queen is
accepted in the nucleus. All these manipulations will be made harder by
the fact that your hive is ill-tempered in the first place. My advice is
to wait until the fall, after the honey harvest. Some of my largest
yields have come from my nastiest hives. Then, since you waited
that long you may wait until spring to attempt to requeen. A failed
attempt to requeen in the spring can be corrected by the bees themselves
(they can rear a queen on their own from eggs laid by the former queen),
whereas a failed attempt in the fall will ultimately lead to a failed
hive. Late in the season is not the 'proper' time for a hive to raise a
new queen, so if a fall attempt fails, so will your hive.


Hints for locating the queen: She will be in the vicinity of current
queen activity (ie closest to the newly laid eggs). If you pull frames
filled with stores, you will not find the queen on these frames. If you
pull a frame with sealed brood, the queen will probably not be on these
frames either. However, if you pull a frame with newly laid eggs,
chances are high that the queen will be on this frame or one adjacent to
it. Try to 'scan' the frame rather than 'examine' it. It is easier to
have the queen 'pop out at you' as opposed to examining every inch of a
frame in an attempt to locate the elusive queen. Practice on any
"Where's Waldo" book!
 
#3 ·
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by beezy:
What is the best way to introduce a queen of one race to a hive of another? I am trying to introduce Carniolan queens to hives of Itialians and Buckfast. Pulling the old queen for a day or two before does not work, when the queen is released they try to kill her. Making a nuc and waiting a day does not work either. Spraying with sugar water, liquid smoke or arrid xtra dry doesn't work.
Surely the is a way to do this without losing the queen.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
G
#4 ·
I have just gone through the situation you described. It really took some effort to re-queen an Italian colony with a Carniolan queen. One important aspect that I think many of us overlook, even though its discussed in most texts, is that re-queening is most successful when a honey flow is on. If it isn't then feed them. After my first unsuccessful attempt I re-read Diana Sammataro's book and realized that I should have fed them. On my next effort I fed them syrup, starting two days before introduction of the queen. It certainly settled them down and the re-queening was successful, i.e., she is alive in the box though she isn't laying like I think she should.

Good luck, H. Bowles
 
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