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Author Topic: new member-requeening advice  (Read 3371 times)

Offline KaraBelle

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new member-requeening advice
« on: June 20, 2006, 01:11:15 pm »
Hi Folks,
I've been browsing your posts and am excited to find a place to get knowledgeable information from a variety of people and places.I'm a  hobby beekeeper for the last two years.  When I was young, I always had a yearning to raise bees-- and now I have 8 hives.    I joined a local bee club and I am responsible for guest speakers.  When I can't get a speaker, I try to put together a presentation with my limited knowledge base.  this month I'm facilitating a discussion or requeening.  If anyone has any tips or advice, I would be thrilled to hear from you.   I recently requeened and still suffering from the guilt trip of killing the  queens.  
Kara

Offline Brian D. Bray

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new member-requeening advice
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2006, 12:12:00 am »
If you just skim the topics in the different sections of this forum with the word queen in it you'll come up more than enough info for a good presentation, including so-n-so from finland (Finsky) or from the Philipines
(tig) uses this method.

You might also try beesource.com, beekeepersvoice.com, or bushfarms.com

Good luck and welcome to beemasters.
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Offline Hi-Tech

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new member-requeening advice
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2006, 12:46:57 am »
I help out a commercial beekeeper on occasion and his wife wont let him kill a queen and throw her away. He has to put her in a jar, bring her home, pour alcohol in the jar to kill her and then his wife buries each of them in her garden...
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Online Michael Bush

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new member-requeening advice
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2006, 11:28:38 pm »
On the rare occasion that I DO kill a queen, she goes in a jar of alcohol and becomes swarm lure.  Usually I'd put her in a nuc with a frame of brood and a frame of honey and bank her in case.  If I get rid of an old queen it would be just before winter to do combines.
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Offline Hi-Tech

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new member-requeening advice
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2006, 12:30:34 am »
MB, Can you explain more about the swarm lure?
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Online Michael Bush

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new member-requeening advice
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2006, 10:48:47 pm »
>MB, Can you explain more about the swarm lure?

My typical swarm lure is lemongrass essential oil.  But I also dump the queens in a jar of alcohol.  The alcohol can then be used as an additional swarm lure.  A few drops in a bait hive will do.
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Offline BJ_BOBBI_JO

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Re: new member-requeening advice
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2008, 10:25:45 pm »
I was reading in a beekeeping book that said we should mash the queen then rub her mashed up goo all over the hive so the others smell her death and make another queen real fast. But I have to admit I just wont be able to do it or so I feel at this time.

I just joined up with a beekeeping organization so I can learn more before I get some hives.

I know it may seem silly to some but the thought of doing that to what will be my bees that I will be tending to seems cruel. And the thought of putting them in alcohol also seems cruel, does that burn them or make them suffer?

I dont mean to degrade the way ppl put down their queens but at this time in my niave early stage of learning about beekeeping Im thinking it seems cruel. I know I have much to learn yet.

What if a queen is left to be old and die on her own what will happen?

What would happen if an old queen bee was taken from the hive and driven far away and let go to fly would she make a new hive ?

or

would my bees fly off far away and find her ?

or

would she just fly around lost until something kills her?

or

would she find her way back home and cause trouble with the new queen and divide up the hive?


Offline johnnybigfish

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Re: new member-requeening advice
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2008, 11:12:48 pm »
hey Bobbi jo!
 These are GREAT questions!
 Ive never had to kill a queen so I dont know the answers either but i'm sure waiting to hear the replies, just like you!
 When i got my first 2 packages of bees last spring, mashing a bee was horrible to me!. I mean, THAT was another reason it took me so long to get my cover on my hives..I kept having to try to push a bee out of the way from being mashed by my top feeder! Then, to make matters worse, being new without any experience with this, I was wearing gloves(nothing wrong with that, mind you)..The gloves were all sticky with sugar syrup!..Then...The bees were sticking to my gloves! I couldnt stand the thought of, after waiting so long for my tiny little bugs, to hurt one!.. Even now, I cringe when i hear that"Crunch" underneath the inner cover when I put it back on.
 I'm not really sure, but I think that when a queen gets old, and a colony is left to their own devices, the hive will take action and do whats in the best interest of the survival and growth of the colony, which means that the bees will kill the queen and then make another queen hatch to start all over again.
Anyways, welcome to the forums and we'll see you later!
your friend,
john

Offline Cindi

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Re: new member-requeening advice
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2008, 12:15:40 am »
BJ, welcome to our forum, you have already found it a place to ask questions and you have some good ones.  I am going to try to answer a couple of your questions.  No doubt you will get many more responses, but here goes.

 <was reading in a beekeeping book that said we should mash the queen then rub her mashed up goo all over the hive so the others smell her death and make another queen real fast. But I have to admit I just wont be able to do it or so I feel at this time.

The idea of mashing up the queen so others smell her death and make another queen is something that I have never heard of.  I wonder where you read that.

<I know it may seem silly to some but the thought of doing that to what will be my bees that I will be tending to seems cruel. And the thought of putting them in alcohol also seems cruel, does that burn them or make them suffer?

The bees die instantly in alcohol, they don't have time to burn or suffer, it is a way of quick kill and preserving, as with the queen, if she needs to be killed

<I dont mean to degrade the way ppl put down their queens but at this time in my niave early stage of learning about beekeeping Im thinking it seems cruel. I know I have much to learn yet.

When I first began keeping bees, I thought it was cruel to kill a queen.  I still find it hard (I have only killed 2 queens in my experience and it was a tough thing to do, but, though love, the life of the entire colony meant more to me than one life of a queen).  But look at it this way, if it means that the entire colony would die because of a poor queen, what then would be your choice?  Sometimes we must make harsh decisions.  Usually if the queen is not very good, the bees will see to that death anyways.  They will perform supercedure where they raise a new queen and she is killed.

<What if a queen is left to be old and die on her own what will happen?

If this happened, the colony would recognize her death (lack of the queen pheromone that is distributed all over the colony of bees quickly) and begin to raise a new queen immediately, within the hour of the lack of the queen pheromone that was present when she was alive within the colony

<What would happen if an old queen bee was taken from the hive and driven far away and let go to fly would she make a new hive ?

This queen would die.  She cannot feed herself, every need of the queen is taken care of by the house bees.  If she was taken away while she was still laying eggs, her ability to fly would be greatly diminished and she probably wouldn't fly anywhere anyway.

or

<would my bees fly off far away and find her ?

If the queen was removed, your bees would immediately begin to raise a new queen, providing there were larvae in the hive to feed to prepare the larvae to become a queen (who is fed only royal jelly, as opposed to worker larvae that are fed a combination of royal jelly, pollen/honey).  This kind of thinking that the bees may miss her and look for her is a human emotion, not honeybee, we can't equate those
or

<would she just fly around lost until something kills her?

Yes, if she could fly, but likely not flying very well
or

<would she find her way back home and cause trouble with the new queen and divide up the hive?

She would never, ever find her way back home, period.

I hope these answers may clear up some of your questions, help you a little bit, there is so much to learn, lean on us to help you, answer your questions, and there will be many, enjoy your time year.  Best of a beautiful and wonderful day, Cindi
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