Looking for a new queen for this weekend

[Silvbee]

Hi all,

Im still looking for a new queen to add a bit of genetic diversity into my apairy. As it happens I checked my hives today and one of my hives that was united recently has become queenless.

Im therefore in the position of re-queening so it would be perfect if anyone had a queen of good stock to sell, for me to put in the hive this weekend. I have a queen of my own I can use I'd just rather mix up the genetics a bit.

Hope someone can help.

[Jon]

Hi.
Make sure you get a queen of the same race of bee you currently work with, preferably the dominant race in your area, or you will likely end up with very aggressive hybrids this time next year.
'Mixing up the genetics' in an uncontrolled way is not a good idea re. having manageable bees to work with in the future.

[Silvbee]

It would be Edinburgh based bees Id be looking for.

[Jon]

No one in the local BKA got queens?

[Silvbee]

I've asked them as well.

[The Drone Ranger]

This year I have ended up with a few queens still in apideas
If you are stuck with a queenless hive one of them might save the day
Bear in mind at this time of year hives can look queenless but the queen has just stopped laying temporarily
Any queen introduced to a hive which already has a queen( laying or not) will just be killed so you must be certain there is no queen

I am not making any claims for them
They are the usual admixture type or hybrid bees most of us have in our hives
I can't say they will produce well behaved bees or if they will bring in a good honey crop.
They are what in the old days queen breeders would describe as untested

What I can say is they are laying in the Apidea and the mother queens were OK temper and health wise.

[Jon]

You might be 14 months too late DR but a kind offer nonetheless.
I also have a load of queens in apideas but I like to try and overwinter a few and if past years are anything to go by there will be people looking queens well into October.
If you have extra queens in apideas and an aggressive colony or two now might be a good time for requeening.

[fatshark]

Jon ... I've been asked for more queens in the last fortnight or so than the entire season. No-one in our BKA appears to have any 'spares' this year. I suspect DR is spot on about 'colonies appearing queenless' ... firstly there is little forage about and they stop laying (and were slowing down anyway), the lack of flow can make them tetchy and - if using Apiguard - they often pretty much stop laying AND get bad tempered. Two of my own colonies were unpleasant this weekend ... sufficiently bad that had it been mid-season they would have been re-queened pronto. Both had the same queens they started the year with.

I did requeen a colony recently that was borderline psychotic ... far worse than you get when populating mini-nucs in the squally rain in April and only exceeded when someone dropped a full brood box in the association apiary (which, with half a dozen beginners about, was a real spectacle ;) ). I can't imagine what they'd have been like this late in the season.

[fatshark]

14 months? D'oh! Bl@@dy Tapatalk shows the date yy-mm-dd and I'm easily confused.

As an aside ... only on a beekeeping forum could you get away with a thread title like this. Fnarr, Fnarr

[Bridget]

I also have a load of queens in apideas but I like to try and overwinter a few and if past years are anything to go by there will be people looking queens well into October..

can you overwinter in an apidea or will you transfer to a nuc?


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[fatshark]

Hi Bridget
In the queen rearing forum there are threads titled 'Overwintering Apideas' and 'Last of the Apideas'. Look also for other posts from Jon. It's certainly possible. I got 2/3 through last winter but am unlikely to have any suitably prepared for this winter.

PS Can't link directly as I'm clueless with Tapatalk :)

[wee willy]

Hi Bridget
In the queen rearing forum there are threads titled 'Overwintering Apideas' and 'Last of the Apideas'. Look also for other posts from Jon. It's certainly possible. I got 2/3 through last winter but am unlikely to have any suitably prepared for this winter.

PS Can't link directly as I'm clueless with Tapatalk :)

A return to the tapatalk signature would identify those amongst us who work the forum mobile?
VM


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[Jon]

Link to more apidea stuff here (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/showthread.php?1059-Last-of-the-Apideas)