BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS
New queen Every Year = less swarm?
Mici:
what about supercedure? i mean, why bother raising a new queen and stuff if bees are well aware when to change the queen? because you would most probably loose one years yield? and aren't superceeded queens the best?
what special methods do you use raising queens? i mean..i'd most probably just take a queen from a nuc/reserve hive or something...
Michael Bush:
>>Of course then there are the commercially produced queens, those seem to need to be replaced more often since they decline quicker because of chemical usage.
>That is taken from heaven. Not a bit true.
Actually it's taken from a presentation by Dr. Nancy Ostiguy who teaches Entomology at Penn State.
http://www.ento.psu.edu/Personnel/Faculty/ostiguy.htm
She said she believes the average queen in the US now gets superceded three times a year and that the cause is the build up of fluvalinate and cumaphos in the wax.
This is consistent with reports I'm hearing more and more of failing queens.
> Could you mention some chemicals you know in beekeping now and 15 years ago?
Fluvalinate and cumaphos have been building up in the wax for some time and the amounts continue to increase every year.
Kirk-o:
I don't like to be ROBOTICAL with my beekeeping the bees are pretty smart.I got through last year with no swarming four hives I started keeping a open brood nest.I decided I would requeen if the queen failed or was superceded if the queen was bad.
I like what Michael Bush says" everything works if you let it" I think if you re-queened to handle swarming it might not work out.
kirk-o
Finsky:
--- Quote from: Mici on February 07, 2007, 05:57:02 pm ---what about supercedure? i mean, why bother raising a new queen and stuff if bees are well aware when to change the queen? aren't superceeded queens the best?
Selection is a key word in breeding. If bees keep their own queen, it is not selection by beekeeper. I have left tens of supercedure queens and I have not been satiefied?
--- Quote ---why bother [/quote) Yeah! Why bother at all with bees. Just waste of time.
--- End quote ---
because you would most probably loose one years yield? and
--- End quote ---
HOw that is possible? I loose the year's yield if swarm escapes. It is only way to loose.
[/quote]what special methods do you use raising queens? i mean..i'd most probably just take a queen from a nuc/reserve hive or something...
[/quote]
If you notice that hive raise queen cells just change the larva from good hive if you have that one. Supercedure in often so late in my country that there is no time to raise queens in that hive from start. It takes 3 weeks that queen is ready to mate.
My aim is strong selection of queens and I keep selection in my hands. That is what I learned when I studied genetics in university. That is basic of whole bee breeding.
If you keep your queens 2-3 years, it is Ok. Nothing magic in it or in my system.
I have 20 hives and 20 mating nucs. I kill about 50% of new queens in mating nucs when I select best. You se that I select allready among new laying queens . What a waste you say. If you are going to get 200 lbs honey during 3-4 weeks, queens cannot be what ever.
Beekeepers like to do vain works and then avoid very necessary works. It is called hobby. :-D
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Mici:
finsky, by "the loss of one years yield" i was aiming at the bad queen, if the queen is no good, she will probably get superceeded to late, that's why the loss of a years yield. am i correct?
hehe finsky, nicely said about hobbyest:D so true. but, when you think of it! inventions are made by lazy people, a hardworking man would not invent the wheel, he'd simply carry the load :mrgreen:
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