Raising queens is important because queens are more prolific egg-layers and swarm less than older queens, which usually results in more honey. To replace failing queens, lost queens and for making nuclei for sale and expanding the apiary. Queen bees are delicate creatures and many things can happen to them, it is handy to have a few spare young queens raised in the season to be on availability for immediate use in an emergency. In raising queens in his apiary, the beekeeper money. Ordering queens from a queen breeder is expensive and often arrives late in the season, some queens are injured or infected by disease, and some do not perform well in a particular region or climate. Raising queens is easy and can be mastered by any beekeeper with knowledge in beekeeping and biology of honeybee. There is no mystery in raising queens. Time for rearing In general, the best time of the year for producing good quality of queens is when nectar and pollen are abundant and there are enough drones available to ensure successful mating. In the Middle East region, this is the period between mid-spring and mid-summer. Raising queens so late in the season is not recommended as emerged queens may not have a good chance of mating; queens that have not a sufficient amount of sperms at mating time are bad layers and will be superseded by bees. Selection of breeder queen The process of rearing queens begins with the selection of a mother queen of high quality, a selection of the desired stock to breed from is very important. Honeybees are not the same, each race and colony has different traits from each other; these traits depend on selective breeding. If we breed from a colony with bad characteristics, we will be perpetuating these bad characteristics, similarly, if we breed from poor colony, the resulting queen will be inferior. There is a large set of heritable traits in the honeybee colony and the breeder should select for desired traits in his bees that are most important to him and locality. Some of the traits of importance in selecting bees are: Gentleness High honey production spring build up in population Non or low level of swarming tendency Disease and varroa mite resistance Quite on the comb Good comb builders Ripens honey rapidly Honey comb capping are white Non or low propolis producers Good wintering quality Non or low followers (i.e. bees do not follow the beekeeper when leaving the apiary) Economical brood rearing when nectar flow is low or stopped. Bees that fly out at lower temperatures.
Raising queens is important because queens are more prolific egg-layers and swarm less than older queens, which usually results in more honey. To replace failing queens, lost queens and for making nuclei for sale and expanding the apiary. Queen bees are delicate creatures and many things can happen to them, it is handy to have a few spare young queens raised in the season to be on availability for immediate use in an emergency. In raising queens in his apiary, the beekeeper money. Ordering queens from a queen breeder is expensive and often arrives late in the season, some queens are injured or infected by disease, and some do not perform well in a particular region or climate. Raising queens is easy and can be mastered by any beekeeper with knowledge in beekeeping and biology of honeybee. There is no mystery in raising queens. Time for rearing In general, the best time of the year for producing good quality of queens is when nectar and pollen are abundant and there are enough drones available to ensure successful mating. In the Middle East region, this is the period between mid-spring and mid-summer. Raising queens so late in the season is not recommended as emerged queens may not have a good chance of mating; queens that have not a sufficient amount of sperms at mating time are bad layers and will be superseded by bees. Selection of breeder queen The process of rearing queens begins with the selection of a mother queen of high quality, a selection of the desired stock to breed from is very important. Honeybees are not the same, each race and colony has different traits from each other; these traits depend on selective breeding. If we breed from a colony with bad characteristics, we will be perpetuating these bad characteristics, similarly, if we breed from poor colony, the resulting queen will be inferior. There is a large set of heritable traits in the honeybee colony and the breeder should select for desired traits in his bees that are most important to him and locality. Some of the traits of importance in selecting bees are: Gentleness High honey production spring build up in population Non or low level of swarming tendency Disease and varroa mite resistance Quite on the comb Good comb builders Ripens honey rapidly Honey comb capping are white Non or low propolis producers Good wintering quality Non or low followers (i.e. bees do not follow the beekeeper when leaving the apiary) Economical brood rearing when nectar flow is low or stopped. Bees that fly out at lower temperatures.
Raising_Honey_Bee_Queens_8_30_10.docx