Why buy queens?

[Honeytree]

I just did some reading while searching under the terms "buying queens" and "breeding queens," so  I feel confident there's a variety of opinions on this one and I would like to be availed of some of that variety.  ;)

So, the "core" beekeepers at my local beekeepers club say that you're better of buying your queens, that the breeders do what they do well, and it's going to be more consistent, and you're more likely to get a quality queen.

But, I'm wondering if bees do kind of like vegetables, acclimate to the particulars of a place and set of circumstances, such as the microclimate around the hive. If a particularly successful strain gets selected to continue over a period of time, doesn't it behoove the beekeeper to keep some of his or her best-performing hive's home-grown queens? (Is that what's known here as survivor stock?)

Is it just that it's kind of one more step that most people don't advise for newbees? Do some folks just prefer the qualities that professional breeders specialize in? Do many beekeepers eventually get to the point where they use their own queens, or is that something of an anomaly?

Thanks.

[backyard warrior]

You got it figured out. In the begining you are best off buying queens till you get the experience to raise your own. I think raising your own queens is the way to go as far as raising queens that are the best genetics in your apiary.  Over time your bees will be aclimated to your area.  Just my opinion but lots of experienced guys have some good genetic stock they have developed over the years from selection.  chris

[iddee]

Buy 10 queens and get 2 bad ones, 2 great ones, and 6 mediocre ones.

Raise 10 queens and get 2 bad ones, 2 great ones, and 6 mediocre ones.

I will say that you have a better chance of getting good queens with local breeders than with distant ones. As you said, they acclimatize.

[FRAMEshift]

Is it just that it's kind of one more step that most people don't advise for newbees?

If you want to try it, then jump in.  Yes local bees are best and getting some survivor genes from local feral stock is a good idea.  We raised our first queen less than three months after starting our first package.  Just did a split with the queen, 3 frames of brood and 2 frames of honey.  Five weeks later the old hive had a new laying queen and both hives have done fine ever since.  

I'm sure some breeders consistently produce quality queens, but it's not rocket science and anyone can do it on a small scale.

[Countryboy]

If you buy a mated queen and add it to a split, that queen is up and laying right away.

If you allow a split to raise their own queen, it puts them a month behind.  I have seen hives produce 50 pounds less honey than the hive right beside them when the queen got killed and they had to raise a new one.

Yes, local queens will be more acclimated to your climate.  It's a trade-off though.  You have to balance the value of a locally acclimated queen versus the value of the 50 pounds of extra honey.

[iddee]

Or, make the split at the end of the main honey flow.

[Kathyp]

you allow a split to raise their own queen, it puts them a month behind.  I have seen hives produce 50 pounds less honey than the hive right beside them when the queen got killed and they had to raise a new one.

yet a queenless hive will over-store honey because they have no brood to tend and caging the queen is something beekeepers have done to increase yield.  one way to counter the problem of diminished numbers is to leave more bees in the hive raising the new queen.  it is true that they will end up behind in brood, but if they have enough numbers to maintain and the new queen is good, they will catch up.

raising your own is something you'll have to experiment with.  i have good luck with it here and like my queens better than those i have purchased.  i also have lots of resources in the area because there are tons of bees.  if my queen makes it back to the hive, she will be a well mated queen. 

if there are not the resources in your area, you may not have the same luck.  if what you start with is not good, your new queen may not be.  if you have lots of swallows, as i do, she may not make it back.....  :-\

no harm in trying.  if you fail, you can always recombine the hives.  the only hard part is knowing when to call it.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm

Why rear your own queens?

Cost. A typical queen costs the beekeeper about $20 counting shipping and may cost considerably more.

Time. In an emergency you order a queen and it takes several days to make arrangements and get the queen. Often you need a queen yesterday. If you have some in mating nucs, on hand, then you already have a queen.

Availability. Often when you need a queen there are none available from suppliers. Again, if you have one on hand availability is not a problem.

AHB. Southern raised queens are more and more from Africanized Honey Bee areas. In order to keep AHB out of the North we should stop importing queens from those areas.

Acclimatized bees. It's unreasonable to expect bees bred in the deep South to winter well in the far North. Local feral stock is acclimatized to our local climate. Even breeding from commercial stock, you can breed from the ones that winter well here.

Mite and disease resistance. Tracheal mite resistance is an easy trait to breed for. Just don't treat and you'll get resistant bees. Hygienic behavior, which is helpful to avoid AFB (American Foulbrood) and other brood diseases as well as Varroa mite problems, is also easy to breed for by testing for hygienic behavior in our breeder queens. And yet hardly any queen breeders are breeding for these traits. The genetics of our queens if far too important to be left to people who don't have a stake in their success. People selling queens and bees actually make more money selling replacement queens and bees when the bees fail. Now I'm not saying they are purposely trying to raise queens that fail, but I am saying they have no financial incentive to produce queens that don't. Basically to cash in on the benefits of not treating, you need to be rearing your own queens.

Quality. Nothing is more important to success in beekeeping than the queen. The quality of your queens can often surpass that of a queen breeder. You have the time to spend to do things that a commercial breeder cannot afford to do. For instance, research has shown that a queen that is allowed to lay up until it's 21 days will be a better queen with better developed ovarioles than one that is banked sooner. A longer wait will help even more, but that first 21 days is much more critical. A commercial queen producer typically looks for eggs at two weeks and if there are any it is banked and eventually shipped. You can let yours develop better by spending more time.

[FRAMEshift]

Or, make the split at the end of the main honey flow.

Right.  We actually do splits a few weeks before the end of the main flow.  By then, all the bees that will be gathering from the flow have been laid as eggs.  Nine days after the split, there is no brood to feed.  From then on, all the hive's efforts go to storing honey.

Also, the break in the brood cycle provides an opportunity for varroa treatment with powdered sugar while all the mites are phoretic.

And another advantage is that you will have fewer bees eating honey during late summer dearth.  At that point, foragers are consuming more than they bring in.

[Countryboy]

Or, make the split at the end of the main honey flow.

I've raised queens in July, but the thing you have to watch is that you are not raising queens during a dearth.  (Or if you do, make sure you feed them.)  A well fed queen from questionable genetics will outperform an underfed queen of proven genetic lineage.

I consider the feeding of a queen larva to be extremely important in determining queen quality.

As long as the queen larva is fed well, you can get a good quality queen at the end of your main flow.