The Safest Method To Add Queens - How to Replace a Queen - How to Introduce Queen Bees

The Safest Method To Add Queens - How to Replace a Queen - How to Introduce Queen Bees
In this video I show you how to requeen a colony and how to replace a queen.
How to introduce queen bees is a question I am often asked. You need to ensure the colony is hopelessly queenless before you release the queen.
The sealed queen cage can be placed in the colony whilst you wait 8 days to make them hopelessly queenless.
Here are two alternate timelines for queen introduction:
Option 1:
Day 0 - Remove or kill existing queens
Day 0 - Add sealed queen cage to colony
Day 8 - Remove ALL emergency queen cells
Day 8 - Release tab from sealed cage
Day 8 - Place cage back between frames
Day 15 - Check for release of queen and eggs
Option 2:
Day 0 - Remove or kill existing queens
Day 8 - Remove ALL emergency queen cells
Day 8 - Add queen in sealed cage
Day 10 - Release tab from sealed cage
Day 10 - Place cage back between frames
Day 17 - Check for release of queen and eggs
Both options work very well and I use them interchangeably.
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[@TerryKeever]

Back in 1989s, I stayed out of college for a semester. When I went back to finish, I needed 1 free elective hour. My roommate was an agronomy major and he recommended a beekeeping class. Really enjoyed it. The next semester I took a lab where we were given a new hive with comb to assemble and paint, a few pounds of young bees and a freshly mated queen. My bees killed 2 queens and a worker started laying eggs. Never found her but they accepted the third queen. The hive never did well and an unknown disease killed it and another hive I got later. Had a couple other hives at a different location that skunks wiped out in a very short period of time. Never got back into it. But think about it often.

[@yvesaugustin912]

Again great video, very good information & editing! Love the fast forwards to the results you really put a lot of effort into this. Keep up the great work!

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Thanks Yves. Glad you enjoy the videos and editing 😉

[@edm719]

Great video !!!!

[@markmurphy8303]

Hi Lawrence, thanks mate great easy to understand way of introducing a newly mated queen to your hive. Thx for the info mate.

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Thanks Mark 😀

[@MrStreetninja007]

If I was making splits would I also let the split become hopelessly queenless before introducing a new mated Queen?

[@barrymoore8228]

Hi Lawrence You could save yourself a lot of work by separating the original queen from most of the brood below a queen excluder (mainly foundation) - wait 7 days then take her out and any newly drawn and laid up frames and add in caged new queen. Avoids having to look through for QC and you get some newly drawn frames too.

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Its require a whole extra box and 10-11 frames as well though. Going though knocking down QCs takes about a minute and gives you confidence the colony believes they are queenless. I've done it before where I have restricted her to a cage and then removed her leaving a hopelessly queenless hive but for some reason it seems to work better for me if I let them draw out the ECs, knock them down and then release. They become desperate for a queen.

[@mit1346]

or just kill the old queen, leave the new queen in the queen cage it came in with the cap on the sugar intact . Leave the cage in hive for 2 days then take the cap of. It will take a few days for them to eat thru the sugar . By that time it will be over 6 days and the hive is ready to accept the new queen. Easy!

[@williamsouthwad]

It was a swarm that came in 2 weeks ago, no brood or any signs of a queen. I put new queen in, in her cage. Am I ok? I am new to this, and 70 years of age so a bit slow on the uptake.

[@splashandbuzz6836]

I removed the old Queen on day zero and returned on day eight to remove the 21 charged queen cells. But one of them seems to have been vacated already. (It's empty, with ragged edges) Is it possible for a new queen to emerge in these eight days? If I'm not sure if there's a virgin queen, should I go ahead and release the mated queen anyway?

[@williamsouthwad]

What happens if old queen is in hive? I may have missed her.

[@russell6206]

What do you do with the new Queen for the 8 days you are waiting for them to become helplessly Queen less, as you stated you wait till the new Queen arrives before you remove the old Queen?

[@paulheinrich7645]

Why can’t you just introduce a new queen in a cage right away - the same as you would doing a split - wait a week and pop the tab? Why do you suggest that the bees must be hopelessly queenless before introducing a caged queen? Thanks for all your videos.

[@TheBritishbeeman]

Iv just purchased one of your mates queens. The hive I need her for has no queen no eggs no brood brood is full of stores. I’m going to take a few frames out and put some blank ones in as iv got no frames drawn out that I can put back in there. Will this be ok mate ?

[@TheBritishbeeman]

Your queens lol 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@nicolthrussell2762]

What do you do with the queen for the week whilst your making your colony hopelessly queen less ??

[@BlackMountainHoney]

We leave ours in the colony, in the sealed cage. The nurse bees will feed her through the cage. Then on day 8 (same day you knock down all the emergency cells) you can open the cage or wait until day 10. Just need to ensure they are hopelessly queenless before opening the tab.

[@gammosiuwong2912]

@@BlackMountainHoney Above a queen excluder I presume?

[@paulcassidy8130]

Why do you requeen with a brought in mated queen rather than letting the bees create their own queen? Is it just to save time and avoid the risk of failure to mate? I can understand you doing this if you have bad tempered bees but not if it's already a well behaved colony.

[@BlackMountainHoney]

Loads of reasons. Temperament, disease, poor honey production, failing queen etc. Any of the above and you should requeen from a trusted supplier. If you just make a split then you end with a queen from an emergency cell which I believe to be inferior and will have existing traits from that colony. Breeding queens from swarm cells results in swarmy bees which are difficult to manage. Definitely too late in the UK to rely on open mating. It will still happen but failure rate could be high with little time to recover. If you want to breed from your best colonies it's best to graft from your chosen colony or use nicot cages so the queens can be properly fed prior to mating. Limits overall losses due to poor mating.

[@CB-yh3ov]

Was that the dark queen from the swarm?

[@BlackMountainHoney]

No way. Keep her to see what she is like next year.

[@julievelinacooper3363]

What do you do with the old queen?

[@BlackMountainHoney]

You can make a split with her

[@xbtman]

👍🌍🌎🌏❤️

[@Whitesmokehoney]

I wish you shipped to the USA

[@bluelab5019]

I've just done this with 2 queen's today but on one of them the perspex lid got stuck to a frame and came straight off. Hopefully she'll be fine. They didn't instantly attack her so I'm hoping when I go back in 7 days I'll see her doing the business.

[@mickhoyle4064]

Any update as I'm wondering if she was accepted?

[@bluelab5019]

@@mickhoyle4064 yes, all was well. When I opened it again she was walking around the frame laying eggs🐝🐝

[@khalidqataada8202]

Why kill the emergency queen cells? why not let one of the emergency queen cells become the new queen?

[@Highlander250469]

Emergency cells usually don’t make the best queens, they will often supersede them quickly, it is an emergency solution for them. If you use the emergency cell you have a lot of chances for tings going wrong, the cell may fail, the virgin queen may have a health issue, it may not return from a mating flight, it may not get properly mated and the genetics will just be random local drones. It will also take several weeks longer before you start seeing eggs from a queen they raised themselves compared to an introduced mated one which is ready to go

[@gheorghe-viorelstropelnita553]

It is not the safest method at all and it is a very slow method. 8 days no queen + 2 days in the cage + another 1 day until they release her + at least another 2 days to feed her and start laying eggs. That is 13 days at the best. And they can just let her laying few eggs before kill her, it has happened to me, perfectly good queen with good brood pattern not accepted. I take out old queen in the morning and after 3 hours if i open and give smoke and they cry like crazy i just give them them the new queen with the cage unsealed! If they don't cry like crazy i just wait another 3 hours and check again. If they cry then will accept any queen and you will not see queen cells at all. If they don't cry for 24hrs don't waste a queen, they already have queen cells and they will not accept any queen even if you destroy the queen cells. The safest method is to introduce her caged on a frame where she can lay eggs, any laying queen is automatically accepted but you make damages on that frame and i doubt you can do it using plastic fundation.

[@BlackMountainHoney]

You add the queen in on day 8 so she is only caged for 48hrs I can only talk from my own experience. We have introduced 1000s of queens like this and it basically never fails unless you miss a cell. Doing it as you say is far more risky and you are reliant on your expertise. Maybe ok for you but it's very subjective and takes experience to understand and read the bees behaviour