Replacing a queen

JZ/BZ (open) & push in cage

I have been asked to do a post on how I would replace a queen, known as requeening, more specifically how I would replace a queen in an aggressive colony.  In truth, this is is the method I use no matter whether the colony is aggressive or not.

To carry out a requeening I use two queen cages, a small travelling cage which I think is a JZ/BZ and a larger press in cage.
If I purchase a queen from a supplier then she will arrive through the post in a JZ/BZ or something similar and the escape tunnel will be sealed with candy or soft wax.  If I am using one of my own queens she will have to be encouraged into a JZ/BZ, not always the easiest of tasks, but once she is in the cage I seal it with a plastic plug, she will only be in there for the journey to her new home.

Queens as they arrive in the post

JZ/BZ sealed with plastic plug 

Queen sealed in with wax

One way or another you now have a queen in a travelling cage, I keep her in my suit pocket until I am ready, it keeps her in the dark and warm, less stress.

In the colony you are to requeen you have to find the existing queen, you then have to decide whether to kill her or keep her with a frame of bees in a nuc as an insurance policy, even a nasty queen is better than no queen.  Either way she must be removed from the colony

Now you have to look for a suitable brood frame for the press in queen cage, the comb has to be flat, there must be no way that the colonies workers can easily crawl under the edges, if the workers manage to get in before they should you will have a dead queen.  It should have a section of honey at the top and emerging brood just under, that is brood that will hatch over the next week.

Shake all the bees off the frame and take it somewhere where you can work on a flat surface, push the queen cage firmly into the comb, top centre, until the edges are in full contact all the way round.  I also use two elastic bands to make sure it cannot move.

Remove the entrance plug from the press in queen cage, take the queen from your pocket, remove the plastic plug and quickly put the escape  hatch on the JZ/BZ into the entrance of the press in queen cage, keeping it raised just enough so there is room for the queen to crawl out and onto the comb.

 Replace the entrance plug on the press in queen cage and take the frame back to its colony.
I usually leave them for a week, sometimes longer before I inspect. If the queen is still in the cage after ten days, brood should have hatched in the cage and she will be their queen and it will be safe to let her go.
I requeen every swarm I collect, so I have done this more than a few times.
This is the only system that has worked every time for me.

A beautiful day

Its Sunday October 7th, here in South Lincs its a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the wind is almost non existent and the bees seem to think its summer.  On this apiary the bees have a couple of acres of this small yellow dandelion like flower to go at, I think its Hawkweed, and I can't remember ever seeing the field looking like this so late in the year and a real bonus for the bees, because whatever it is they are all over it.

Queen rearing

I have built the prototype for my Queen accommodation block.  The unit is a standard national super which has three snug fitting separators  splitting the box into four equal compartments, each compartment can take 2 super frames and space for a queen introduction cage.  Because all the work is in the base and I have not altered the super in any way it could be used as a normal super once queen breeding is finished for the year.

Each compartment has an entrance hole in the floor, each at right angles to the next, so there should not be a problem of the bees getting confused about which entrance is their own.  There will only be a few hundred bees in each compartment, just enough to see the queen mated and into her laying cycle.  She will then be introduced into one of my nucs or colonies or sold.

All I have left to do is make four individual crownboards with an 8mm thick edge to create top bee space, and a standard national roof.  I need perhaps five of these for my first year queen breeding, judging by the interest so far.  Not a bad effort for the first attempt, I'll have a think to see if it can be improved or made easier to build before I make any more.