starting out queen rearing

[snimmo243]

Hi
I'm looking for suggestions for a good book on the subject of queen rearing.

I've been beekeeping for 4 years, I went from my original nuc in 2009 up to two colonies in 2011, last year I had to move my apiary site in January, however the bees seemed to settle in fine, I split both colonies last year one of the artificial swarms was unsuccessful (I think the queeen didn't return from mating flight) whilst the other artificial swarm prospered.
Mistake number 1: instead of uniting this back into the parent colony in order to replace my ageing original queen I sold it to a beginner
Mistake number 2: I assumed that my younger colony having survived one winter would get through another
Mistake number 3: I assumed that as my old queen had been prolific right through the summer she would get me into the start of this season allowing me to replace her at the ripe old age of four
The reality is I have lost my younger colony completely and I am increasingly convinced my old queen is a drone layer!

Assuming I manage to get some more bees this summer I don't want to get myself into this position again (as far as possible) hence I would like to learn more about queen rearing in a bid to always have a back up and have a more proactive approach to this.

Thanks in advance

Steven

[prakel]

I personally reckon the best value queen rearing (and related subject) books on the market at present are in Larry Connor's 'Essentials' series:

Increase Essentials.

Bee Sex Essentials.

Queen Rearing Essentials.

Written by a bee scientist in a user friendly, easily digestable style it's well worth investing in all three, and they're easily obtainable in the UK.

Larry Connor's home site http://www.wicwas.com/index.html also has some of his past articles archived.

Also, as a general overview of breeding/selection methods, don't forget the free access Coloss Queen Rearing pdf (Standard methods for rearing and selection of Apis mellifera queens) http://www.ibra.org.uk/articles/The-COLOSS-BEEBOOK-queen-rearing-and-selection.

[The Drone Ranger]

Queen raising video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKUH8dFlSaE
or
If you only have one or two hives possibly use Demaree
http://www.barnsleybeekeepers.org.uk/demaree.html

[snimmo243]

Hi thanks for the advice I will certainly try those books and links out

[Mellifera Crofter]

... If you only have one or two hives possibly use Demaree
http://www.barnsleybeekeepers.org.uk/demaree.html

DR, I looked at that description and it seems to me that the top box will result in a drone graveyard. We've talked about the poor drones before on this forum. I think that Demaree method would be fine as long as one adds a shallow eke with an entrance (I don't know what that would be called) to allow the top bees - drones - to leave the box.
Kitta

[prakel]

DR, I looked at that description and it seems to me that the top box will result in a drone graveyard. We've talked about the poor drones before on this forum. I think that Demaree method would be fine as long as one adds a shallow eke with an entrance (I don't know what that would be called) to allow the top bees - drones - to leave the box.
Kitta

Often wonder the same about the bailey comb change idea of enclosing the old box under an excluder and shutting the original door, suppose you just shake the drones out periodically (but no one ever seems to tell us that).

Anyway, back to upper entrances, I use a method surprisingly similar to what Gavin mentioned on another thread the other day -rim fixed on upper side of excluder with (closeable) door. Not got around to doing them all yet but should be there by the end of this year (always seem to be more interesting things to do!). Wadey reckoned that such entrances when used simply to alleviate traffic through the brood chamber, rather than for specific queen rearing manipulations etc, should be on the underside of the excluder -to limit pollen going into the supers. Another very simple method is to break the springs out of old wooden clothes pegs and use the two halves as wedges -best to paint them nice bright colours for when they invariably get dropped. Then of course there's always the option to stagger the upper box so that it sits slightly back from the lower one.

[prakel]

Hi thanks for the advice I will certainly try those books

I'd recommend you read the archived magazine articles on Connor's website as they'll give you a fair taste for his writing style which'll help your decision on purchasing his books. The articles are a bit 'pot luck' in the sense that he's indexed them by month and year not title -so first time around you don't know what you're going to get at the end of the link! But they're all good reading.

edited on Sept 22, 2013.
A revamp of his website has resolved the indexing issue. All articles are now listed by title.

[The Drone Ranger]

DR, I looked at that description and it seems to me that the top box will result in a drone graveyard. We've talked about the poor drones before on this forum. I think that Demaree method would be fine as long as one adds a shallow eke with an entrance (I don't know what that would be called) to allow the top bees - drones - to leave the box.
Kitta

Hi MC

Sorry if the Barnsley method is not best practice
I was looking for a clear description of Demaree
I use a snelgrove board so it looked ok to me.
Most queen breeding methods are only suitable with several hives available
Swarm boards work but they add their own complexities to the task