Wootens

[Chef Isaac]

anyone try their queens? Any thoughts?

[knadai]

I had a Wooten "golden queen" in a hive started June 15th. She was a pretty golden color and her daughters were a striking peachy color. You could pick them out in mid flight. My kids would rescue honeybees from the pool, keeping track of how many were "ours."

They built up well. Shortly after I adding a third deep in August, they superceded her. I found a single supercedure cell with the "hatch" open in the top deep. The new queen started laying before all of the old capped brood hatched. If my bee math is correct, that shows I didn't accidently crush the old queen.

I haven't seen the new queen yet but her girls look like regular Italians. They continued to do well going into winter. The top deep is chock full of honey. The middle is backfilled brood. The bottom is half empty, half pollen. I'll keep this new queen going into next year and plan to split this hive. Not sure if I will let the split(s) raise their own queen or buy some from a breeder. Another Wooten would be worth it just for the novel color.

I'm not sure if by "golden" they mean cordovan or not. I am also not sure if my girl's color was typical for a Wooten. She didn't look like the pictures on the Wooten web site.

[Chef Isaac]

how was the hygenic behavior?

[knadai]

Since it was the colony's first year, mites were not a problem. I've yet to see a mite, but I did occasionally see a pupa in their garbage dump.

[knadai]

Now that I think of it, she did lay all over the place. Where she laid eggs was patterned tight, but she roamed all over whatever deep the brood nest was in. This is my first year beekeeping, and I was expecting the brood to be in a somewhat permanent place in the hive.

[tecumseh]

knadai writes:
Now that I think of it, she did lay all over the place. Where she laid eggs was patterned tight, but she roamed all over whatever deep the brood nest was in. This is my first year beekeeping, and I was expecting the brood to be in a somewhat permanent place in the hive.

tecumseh writes:
it really sound like to me that (you describe the queen as being superseceded) that a patch of green brood got isolated from the main brood cluster and the hive produced a supesecedure cell (kind of like a cloak board without the board). if the hive truely superseceded a weak queen you would have likely had queen cells throughout (not necessarily in large quantity which is more a seasonal thing) the active brood nest. just a quess for certain, but your description points me in that direction.

[tarheit]

I had some Wooten queens about 6 years ago. A local guy used them for years in nucs at the time and I purchased a couple extra queens for splits. They seemed to do just fine, no superceedure problems. They were productive, but really didn't seem remarkable in any way and could be a bit testy. But a lot can change in a few years with breeding. Don't know that they were hygienic in any why because I didn't have the equipment to test (liquid nitrogen, etc.).

-Tim

[knadai]

With only one hive and me being a novice beek, I am not implying that Wootens have a supercedure "problem." That's just what happened to me.

As for green brood being isolated from the rest, that makes sense. In adding the third deep, I rearranged some frames to break up the "dome" of honey above the brood nest. I may have moved some brood up top in the process. Would such a distance (one deep) be enough?

[Fred Bee]

I have always wanted to try one of those really Golden color Queens just for fun...but if I recall, the Wooten's Queens were only available for those who would purchase a large quantity. Don't know if that is still the case? I have never had a Cordovan Queen either for that fact, but again would love to have one just for the fun of trying different Queens. To this date...the best Queens I ever got were NWC Queens from Tim at Honey Run.

[knadai]

I have always wanted to try one of those really Golden color Queens just for fun...but if I recall, the Wooten's Queens were only available for those who would purchase a large quantity. Don't know if that is still the case?

I got mine from Phil Hempel at Blossomland Bee Supply in Buchanan Michigan. He may have bought a large quantity.

I have no complaints with the Wooten queen but with only one hive I have nothing to compare it too.

I will report on results in the spring.

[Fred Bee]

I'm not sure if by "golden" they mean cordovan or not. I am also not sure if my girl's color was typical for a Wooten. She didn't look like the pictures on the Wooten web site.

I would very much like to see the Wooten web site. Can any one give me the link? Thanks!

[Okiebee]

http://wootensgoldenqueens.com/

[themrbee]

Hi
They like to brood to the wood. they have way bees,on a good flow they can make a lot of honey and they can also eat alot if no flow

[Fred Bee]

"In the last eight years, our breeder queen’s bees were dissected and tested for mites with the priority to use only non-infested stock, which created a tracheal mite resistant line. To enhance our Italian stock, with the influence and guideline of Dr. Tom Rinderer, a program was developed, setting aside known Varroa mite infested untreated apiaries, we have chosen “survivor” queens as breeders. As a result, we now have Varroa mite tolerant bee that are healthy and strong."

[Aspera]

Hi
They like to brood to the wood. they have way bees,on a good flow they can make a lot of honey and they can also eat alot if no flow

My understanding is that Wooten's stock is mostly used by commercial pollinators who need big colonies even if they don't produce the most honey.

[tarheit]

Now that I think about it, that sounds just like what I experienced. Some of those Wooten queens I got had drones in February, and had a good solid 20 frames of bees the 1st of April. Split them into 2 hives each and you could hardly tell the hives were splits. It was a mild winter and fortunately I feed them very early, but typically this isn't a good trait for our area.

-Tim