new queen

Local question related to beekeeping in the Piedmont Triad area asked and answered here!

Moderators: Jacobs, Wally

Post Reply
don ellis
Newbee
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:22 pm
Location: julian
Contact:

new queen

Post by don ellis »

Is it too late to requeen? If not where is the best place to get them now?
Wally
Guard bee
Posts: 1838
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 2:35 pm
Location: Randleman

Post by Wally »

I was hoping Kurt would chime in here. He requeens much more than I do.

My opinion, tho, would be it is too late. I have always heard you needed 2 full brood cycles for the new queen before winter. That's 42 days.

Bees, of course, will always prove the keeper wrong. They will many times survive "despite" our help.

PS...Welcome to the forum.
don ellis
Newbee
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:22 pm
Location: julian
Contact:

Post by don ellis »

Thanks Wally, I checked two hives and found almost no brood. Both seem to be on the weak side and had a bad attitude. They are usually very gentle. I was concerned about the lack of brood though.
This forum is a great tool, thanks for the hard work.
Kurt Bower
Guard bee
Posts: 692
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 2:04 pm
Location: Julian, NC
Contact:

Post by Kurt Bower »

It will be almost impossible to find a queen at this late date.
I am unaware of any hard and fast rules for requeening on a seasonal basis but I believe that you would find no significant value to requeening. Like Wally said, a new queen would not really give you any advantage due to not being able to lay any quantities of eggs.
I think if one was requeening a hive with a large population you would have better results. More bees would allow the brood to be better managed even if the weather turns cold. Nothing outside the cluster will survive a night like last night.

Kurt
Post Reply