Requeen twice a year

[sqkcrk]

I'm not sure about what that is. Care to elaborate?

[ChristopherA]

From reading what I have read I consider this topic to be going in many direction.

For commercial you raise your own queens to make splits and for just in case.

For hobbiest or sideliners its a different story however people are requeening once a year and some twice a year (twice a year why?).

I can understand for commercial purpose requeening. The bees get moved all around, maximum production is required of them, I can see queens and bees getting wore out.

However beeing a hobbies, going to sideliner and queen rearing, again I dont see a reason to requeen unless the queens show signs of failure. Then again if that starts to happen then there is a chance they will requeen themselves.

[Bud Dingler]

Self contaminated comb full of miticides often applied 3 or more times per year in FEEDLOT beekeeping operations can create high levels of contamination.

There is a lot of published science about coumaphos and even fluvalinate and honeybee reproductive health. Sterile drones and superceded queens are the symptoms but its not like the combs glow in the dark either so there is no visible sign of trouble.

Additional issues can arise from novel miticides that basically are under the radar and no bee researcher has a clue about how they affect honeybee reproductive health. Synergy where more then one chemical by itself is not a problem but when mixed in a hive combine to form a new compound that could damage reproductive health also.

But denial and blaming Bayer is a lot more fun then looking reality in the eye.

I live in a sea of corn and beans, don't use any common or weird miticides, don't feed antibiotics preventatively, don't do any pollination and gee whiz don't have queens failing left and right either. Like Mike Palmer we requeen when we find a loser brood pattern or other signs of queen failure.

[Michael Palmer]

Sounds like there are some other issues to address other than queens.

Amen Keith.

[MTINAZ]

I listened to Dave M in Texas. I did not get the impression that he "has" to re queen. It is just that all his $ is from pollination and contracts are based on strength of the hive. For his business he finds it profitable to re queen twice a year and have younger queens heading up strong colonies.

[Ted Kretschmann]

Dave M also has a managment schedule for rotating combs out of his bees. You will not find many combs that are over four years of age in his bees. He replaces about 3 a year in every colony he owns and replaces them with foundation. His thinking, less problems with disease and pesticide build up thus stronger bees to pollenate with. Hey, I have pollinated almonds on the same ranch south of Bakersfield that he had bees also on a few years ago. His bees were stronger and looked better than mine. He is a very good beekeeper. TK

[swarm_trapper]

you bet ted I have seen his bees a few times and for him to get as many bees as he runs to look so good consistently it takes some skill.

[sqkcrk]

Self contaminated comb full of miticides often applied 3 or more times per year in FEEDLOT beekeeping operations can create high levels of contamination.

Like Mike Palmer we requeen when we find a loser brood pattern or other signs of queen failure.

W/ 14,000 cols the "FEEDLOT beekeeping" charge is valid, I imagine. Lots of hives, not alot of locations to put them.

But, do you know how Dave Mendes manages his colonies? Or are assumptions being made? I don't know Dave Mendes, but I do know Dave Hackenberg. If my questions seem to be in DM's defence, it's because he isn't here to defend himself and reallly explain his practices.

As to your final sentence, according to DH, DM does the same as you and Mike. He requeens "when [he] find[s] a loser brood pattern or other signs of queen failure.".

Another thing that Hack said yesterday. Paraphrased. If you are going to pollinate almonds you have to start out w/ twice as many colonies as you need to put into the groves. I have seen that in the operation of a closer friend of mine who sends hives to almonds.

[sqkcrk]

From reading what I have read I consider this topic to be going in many direction.

Thrreads, like conversations often go that way. But the basic subject of the Original Post is still going on. Barry asked a question about someone who manages 14,000 colonies or more and why the reported twice a year requeening. We're still conversing about that.

[Tom G. Laury]

As far as I know, putting in lots of fresh queens is still good beekeeping.

[Tim Stewart]

I haven't talked to Dave M or Dave H but I have talked every once in a while to Bob Harvey or his son. In their a little under 4000 hive operation, they use 88 queens a week. He runs singles with excluder and three mediums almost year round. When a dud queen shows up it gets stacked on the hive behind it and that is split a week later. They don't expect many virgins to mate on 6 way pallets.

Tim