How To Requeen A Honey Bee Hive
Queen is the most important bee in the overall honey bee colony. And this is why it is vital to ensure that the queen is healthy and productive. The life span of a bee ranges between 4-5 years. But, sadly, a queen remains healthy and highly productive only for 1-2 years. So, the beekeepers need to replace the queen bee once in a year to keep the hives in productive condition.
Anyways, there are many other ways when a honey bee hive calls for a new queen.
The situations are:
· The existing queen is old
· The queen is lost
· And finally, the queen is not laying properly
Once you have decided to re-queen the honey bee hive, follow the below steps to make the whole process smooth and hassle-free.
Steps to Re-queen A Honey Bee Hive:
Order for A New Queen:
This process requires you having a new queen bee. But where you will get that? Just contact the local beekeeping association or any other beekeeper supplier and they will send a newly-mated queen in a wooden cage. This cage will have a cork, plug, or cover along with a candy at the end. This is for her feeding.
Find And Remove the Old Queen:
The next step is to identify the old queen to remove her. The queen remains in the middle with the workers surrounded. Also, she has no stripes, unlike others while her abdomen too is thinner and longer than the worker bees. Take that old queen out.
New Queen Installation:
Open the beehive just as you open it for a regular check. Be very careful not to do any mess. It is suggested to wait for a day after removing the old queen. This will make it easy for the acceptance of the new queen. The bees will remain queen-less for a whole day and it will help them in easy acceptance of the new queen.
Installation of a new queen is of two types, direct method and indirect method. The direct method is risky enough where the new queen is introduced to the colony directly. This method is not secure at all. This is why the indirect method is suggested most of the times.
The indirect method involves introducing the new queen to the beehives, along with the wooden cage. This will give the other bees enough time to accept the new queen. But, put the candy side down. Otherwise, the candy may melt down and fall on the queen to kill her.
The queen cage should be placed between two frames. Choose the frames area with more brood. Or else choose the center part if there is no brood. The best idea is to keep the cage horizontally. Within a few days, the candy will be eaten by the bees in the hive and the new queen will be released.
If you have already opened the cap of the cage, you can leave the hive like that for a week. But, if the cap was there, take it out in one-two days.
Inspect the Hive:
Finally, inspect the hive after a week. Check if the new queen is released and also if she has been accepted or not. The presence of eggs will make everything clear.