I hived a swarm of bees and placed a frame of brood from a hive containing a mediocre queen. The problem is the swarm was so large that I think the feral queen swarmed again because there are no eggs and 6 queen cells. My question is that since the queen cells were formed from the brood from my hive with the mediocre queen will the emerging queen be as mediocre as her mother or will there be a chance she will be better? What are the odds?
Brood from weak hive resulting in a mediocre queen.
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That all depends on why the queen is mediocre. Sometimes a poorly mated, or aging queen will be mediocre, or worse. It is also possible that the eggs used for the queen cells are the get of a superior drone. The offspring get half their genes from each parent so even if the reason for the queens mediocrity is genetic, there is no more of a chance that the offspring will receive those genes, than there is of the offspring of a superior queen bred to a mediocre drone being mediocre.
A well fed queen from mediocre genetics will out perform a mediocre fed queen of superior genetics. So if those are some monster good looking queen cells you may just be fine, then again a dragon fly could eat her on her mating flight LOL
>A well fed queen from mediocre genetics will out perform a mediocre fed queen of superior genetics.
This should be carved in stone somewhere. It should be every queen breeder's maxim...
This should be carved in stone somewhere. It should be every queen breeder's maxim...
Good to know. So is it safe to conclude that pinching a mediocre queen to allow the hive to make a new one is always better than allowing the mediocre queen to live? I ask this because I am a small scale beekeper and don't have the resources yet to breed my own queens.
>Good to know. So is it safe to conclude that pinching a mediocre queen to allow the hive to make a new one is always better than allowing the mediocre queen to live?
Sort of.
1) I never pinch a queen while I have any use for a queen. I put her in a nuc with the frame of brood she is on and another frame of honey and then I still have a backup. Plus sometimes she just hasn't hit her stride or there aren't enough bees to raise a lot of bees.
2) I never pinch a queen to get rid of her. I would drop her in a jar of alcohol (with all the other retired queens) and make QMP (Queen Mandibular Pheromone) for swarm lure.
Sort of.
1) I never pinch a queen while I have any use for a queen. I put her in a nuc with the frame of brood she is on and another frame of honey and then I still have a backup. Plus sometimes she just hasn't hit her stride or there aren't enough bees to raise a lot of bees.
2) I never pinch a queen to get rid of her. I would drop her in a jar of alcohol (with all the other retired queens) and make QMP (Queen Mandibular Pheromone) for swarm lure.
That darn dragonfly will intercept the best laid plans
>That darn dragonfly will intercept the best laid plans
Exactly. A laying queen in the hand is worth two flying through the air...
Exactly. A laying queen in the hand is worth two flying through the air...
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