Emergency Queens

[richard]

I am hoping to re-queen one of my 3 colonies to improve temper. I would like to take the queen out to a nuc box (as insurance) then allow them to raise a queen from a frame of aggs from my best behaved colony.

I have heard that emargency queens are usually of very poor quality and to get a decent queen you have to raise in 'proper' queen cells with grafting or ... etc.

Is this true or might my emergency queen be perfectly good?

[Robert Brenchley]

Open the hive five days after removing the queen, and break down any capped cells you see. These will be queens started from larvae which were too old to produce good queens. Let uncapped cells develop; these will be OK. I raised two queens this way last year; one is still going really well, the other is failing. A third failed to mate, but I only wanted the two anyway.

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Regards,

Robert Brenchley

RSBrenchley@aol.com
Birmingham UK

[richard]

Thanks Robert.
What is the earliest I can safely try this?


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Regards
Richard

[Robert Brenchley]

Probably around the last week of this month or the first of next at a push. Last year I split on May 13th, a couple of weeks after seeing the first drones, but had to wait a month for the queens to start laying. It was probably a bit early for that awful spring. I'm hoping to start about May 1st this year.

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Regards,

Robert Brenchley

RSBrenchley@aol.com
Birmingham UK