Advanced Beekeeping 301
This is one of the specialties in the beekeeping industry. It can be carried out on a small scale by the hobby beekeeper as well as the commercial beekeeper to produce queens for personal use or for sale. Queen rearing was carried out by some notable early beekeepers. Among them included Langstroth, Quinby, A.I. Root, Alley, and Doolittle.
Before the age of the movable frame [Langstroth did not invent the movable frame] scientific knowledge about the production of queens was unknown. Some even referred to the queen as a King. Among one of the first to study and prove that queens were produced from worker larvae was Francois Huber. Huber designed a folding frame hive (designed like pages in a book) which would allow an observer access to the mysteries within the hive. Using scientific methods, Huber proved beyond a doubt that queens were produced from worker larvae. Huber's work is still recognized for his outstanding observations and contribution to our knowledge of the honey bee.
The accumulated knowledge from previous beekeepers should be recognized here. They include: F. Pellett, J. Smith, O. Mackensen, F. Ruttner, Laidlaw and Eckert, and current bee scientists such as W. Rothenbuhler, S. Taber, T. Rinderer, S. Page, and J. Latshaw.
Queen rearing is based upon scientific fundamentals. They must be observed by anyone attempting to raise queens. The following fundamental facts are:
Conditions under which queens are raised naturally.
Methods of raising queens Varies:
For the sake of history, I am going to list several methods that have been used. Many of these methods are explained in books by the authors of these methods. Brief explanations of each of the following methods can be found by clicking on the name of the person who developed the method. By far the most common method used by commercial queen producers today is the Doolittle Method. This method will be explained in Applied Queen Rearing.
Introduction to Applied Queen Rearing
Why queens should be reared?
The inherited and physical qualities of a queen are transmitted to the colony. The characteristics we like to see are produced by superior queens. For example, a new SMR queen has been introduced just this past year. The "Russian" queen was introduced just a few years ago. We would like to find genetic stock that can resist the varroa mite damage being done to our hives today. This is accomplished by breeding these characteristics into stock sold to the beekeeper consumer. When one finds superior queens, every attempt should be made to propagate that stock. This is something all beekeepers can do to improve their own stock. Or the beekeeper might purchase a breeder queen.
A breeder queen is a queen of outstanding characteristics. She is the queen providing the larvae for future queens. However she is found (your own outstanding stock or purchased) special care must be taken to make sure she does not swarm and thus you loose her. Most breeders will clip the wings of the breeder queens so they can not fly off with a swarm and keep the breeder queen in a single deep hive with marked frames so they can determine the age of the larvae to be grafted. In some cases the breeder queen is confined to a restricted space within the hive by queen excluders and new frames of drawn comb inserted daily for her to lay in. Other beekeepers have use the Jenter cage to keep the queen confined to select larvae without grafting. Many purchased breeder queens are artificially inseminated and cost a great deal of money. If a breeder queen cost $800.00, you can bet the beekeeper will take very special care of that queen. (Note: $800.00 is not an outrageous amount for a very good breeder queen).
Other reasons for raising queens would be to have a few on hand to replace old or failing queens or even queenless hives. Queens raised from superior stock even by the hobbyist can be better than the stock sold by some queen breeders. Or raise your own queens just for the experience of it. Or you might want to replace all of your queen each year by raising new queens to replace all your old queens and requeen each fall rather than in the spring.
Before we move into applied queen production, I should point out that natural queen cells produced under the swarming impulse can be cut carefully from the comb and then used to raise more queens. One will often find 20 or more queen cells in a hive determined to swarm. If the stock is good, you can have no finer queens that those produced under the swarming impulse. Some fear that by using such cells that you are propagating a stain of bees that will be prone to swarm. Let me tell you, bees (all bees) will swarm. If you have a characteristic such as mite resistance, wouldn't it be better to use these cells? On the other hand, if the hive was very aggressive, I would think twice before using those swarm cells.
The next part of this lesson takes up Applied queen production methods. You will be introduced to a number of new terms. Applied queen rearing