Should I replace the queen before she dies?

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Most of the beekeeping books I have read say that I should replace the queen after 2-3 years to keep my hive productive. Do you agree (disagree) with this statement or do you have any advice regarding this topic?

Thanks for the help

2

Like many questions in beekeeping, the answer depends on a lot of factors… :blush:

  1. If you live in a region with a lot of peaceful honey bees, you can let the hive decide for itself. When the queen ages, the workers can sense it and will create a supercedure queen cell. Most often, they do this every 2-3 years, but some queens do well for up to 5 years. The queen can then go out on a mating flight, and mate with local drones, replacing the old queen. Note that she will not usually mate with drones from her own hive
  2. If you live in an area with Africanized bees, you will want to purchase a docile, mated queen from a region which does not have Africanized bees. You may then wish to replace her every 2 years if you are in a rural setting, or even every year if you are in an urban area with lots of neighbours close to your hives. That reduces the risk of a supercedure resulting in semi-africanized offspring, which can be very aggressive and lose you a lot of friends very quickly!
  3. If your hive is in a remote area, with very few hives around you, you may want to purchase a queen every couple of years, because any supersedure virgin queens may not have access to drones from other hives to mate successfully

It is always helpful to assess the brood pattern during an inspection, while you are also looking for pests and diseases. A spotty, broken brood pattern is a pretty good sign of an aging queen. If the hive doesn’t replace her, you will need to do so, or the hive will decline over a month or two.

3 Likes
3

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate the advice😃

4

Could someone please share an ethical method of killing a queen bee after replacing her.

Thanks

5

Put her in a freezer. She will fall asleep first, then die within an hour or two.

6

Thanks for the method

1 Like
7

My method of killing a queen bee is to squash her. They go to sleep instantly. I’m sure they die faster that way then getting balled by the colony.

8

Thanks for the advice

1 Like