I like to check one week after install to see if she has been released from her cage. You do not want to disturb a colony too soon after installing a new queen or they may decide to reject her. Remove the cap before placing in the brood box and the queen will eat her through the candy blocking the exit. The image below is an example of a queen arriving in a cage. However, I generally position the queen cage on its side and affix it to comb with open brood with a rubber band. Since the breeder knows their bees best, I would suggest following their instructions. The queen breeder often gives specific instructions on how to install the queen. Your new queen will come inside a cage to protect her from the worker bees while they adjust to her smell. Some beekeepers like to do this several days before installing the new queen and others do it on the same trip. To kill the queen quickly grab her off the comb by the wings and then pinch her head between your fingers. This is nobody’s favorite beekeeping task, but it is sometimes necessary. ![]() In most cases “remove” actually means kill. Step 1: Before installing your new queen, you need to remove the old one. In the image below shows a commercially purchased queen bee marked to make identification easier. Beekeepers sometimes let the half without the queen raise their own, but you may want to install a queen with known genetics and this process looks a lot like requeening Basically, you divide a large colony in two and then ensure that each half has a queen. If you want to increase the number of hives in your apiary, you can make a split.Once the new queen is installed it may take a month for the bees to completely calm down because it won’t be until then that all the bees from the old queen have died out, but I often see at least a slight change soon after the new queen begins to lay. If a colony becomes too defensive, replacing the queen will solve the issue.She may have an uneven laying pattern, produce too many drones or just not lay enough. Sometimes a queen simply doesn’t perform well.Also, the new queen will usually be genetically stronger. The period of time between queens will mean a gap in the brood cycle and without brood, many brood diseases cannot persist. Requeening solves many brood disease issues in the hive because it creates a brood break.You can read more about identifying whether your colony needs requeening here. Reasons for replacing the queen include: colony health, under-performance, temperament or apiary expansion. ![]() So, if your hive is thriving with a three-year-old queen, there really is no reason to replace her. Unlike hobbyists, they simply do not have time to individually evaluate them all and decide if they need to be requeened. I often tell my students, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Beekeepers with large operations have hundreds or sometimes thousands of beehives. Some requeen every year and others requeen every two years, but if you are a hobbyist, I don’t see any reason to requeen on a schedule. This practice is based on the theory that older queens will not lay as well as a young queen. Commercial beekeepers with large operations often requeen their hives on a schedule. Some new beekeepers may be confused about when and why to requeen a hive. There are many different reasons to requeen a hive and even more ways to do it! Hilary Kearney tells us how. Every beekeeper needs to replace the queen in their hive at some point.
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