Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: doak on October 13, 2009, 07:39:13 pm
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This is my first poll. Hope it is right.
Do my bees get more aggressive as the queen gets older? yes. :)doak
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never really noticed it to say the truth.
I have a bee tree stump in the yard and took a chain saw to it the other day to trim it up so that I could close it off for the winter and the bees were so gentle it was unreal, not even a single head butt. Made about six cuts all the way through it on the top and side where the top and a limb had broken out. Nailed a couple of boards across it to close it up and a shingle for a roof. they still have a knot hole for a entrance.
G3
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I'd say yes and no. Depending on her genetics and also what drones she mated with. I'd guess it is possible for her to use up a particular drone's genetics before starting on the next one, triggering a change in temperament.
Or perhaps she just gets crotchety with age and then the worker bees get cranky having to work around the old hag. :-D
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Cant really say. I think mine are the same, MEAN! All three hives have requeened themselves this year and I did not see a difference. One hive is hotter than the other two. 1 hive seems weaker or at least they dont klike to build like the other two. I think mine really depends on what is going on and what the weather is doing.
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Looks like the poll contradicts what I have read in most all the books on beekeeping.
Most all stress that one of the points of re queening is to have a young queen, which will have stronger pheromones, which plays a part in the gentleness of the workers.
Of course I understand the fact that some of the gentleness also comes from genes.
What am I missing?
My Mother always told me I couldn't have the whole pie.
doak