Finding the queen bee in a feral hive

[codyjp]

Do you really want/need to replace your queen? So far, I only have 2 hives, but the natural queens seem to be just fine and the hives are good tempered.

Unless they are mean just let them do their jobs.

[kilocharlie]

Of course, just to re-state the obvious, don't kill the old queen until the new queen has been accepted. Cage her and keep her in a small queenless nuc until the new queen is well-established. You can do the dirty deed and re-unite the nuc bees with their old hive later.

Also, introduce new queens with a Laidlaw queen introduction push-in cage (see Contemporary Queen Rearing by Harry H. Laidlaw.)