new queen

don ellis · Post by **don ellis** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 2:40 pm

Is it too late to requeen? If not where is the best place to get them now?

Post by **Wally** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:29 am

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 · Post by **don ellis** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 6:04 pm

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 · Post by **Kurt Bower** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:06 am

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