The queen bee is the reproductive center of a honey bee colony, responsible for laying all eggs. Beekeepers often create new queens to replace old or failing queens, expand their apiary, or improve genetic traits. This practice helps maintain colony strength and health.
Understanding Queen Bee Development
A female honey bee larva can develop into either a worker or a queen, primarily influenced by diet. All young female larvae initially receive royal jelly, a protein-rich secretion from nurse bees. However, only larvae destined to become queens are fed royal jelly throughout their development. This diet leads to the development of queen morphology, including fully developed ovaries. Worker larvae are switched to a diet of bee bread (pollen and honey) after about three days.
Queen bees undergo four main life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The egg stage lasts about three days. The larval stage lasts about six days, during which the larva grows significantly. The pupal stage occurs within a specially constructed queen cell, a larger, peanut-shaped structure, lasting seven to ten days. Development from egg to adult queen typically takes about 16 days, shorter than the 21 days for worker bees.
Preparing the Colony for Queen Rearing
Successfully raising new queens depends on preparing a suitable colony environment. A strong, healthy colony with abundant nurse bees is necessary, as they produce the royal jelly for queen development. The colony must also have ample food resources, including honey and pollen, to support the high nutritional demands. Beekeepers often supplement these resources with sugar syrup or protein patties.
Creating a queenless state within the colony stimulates bees to produce queen cells. When a colony loses its queen, the absence of her pheromones triggers an emergency response, prompting worker bees to convert young female larvae into queens. This artificial queenlessness encourages the colony to accept and nurture developing queen cells.
Key Methods for Raising New Queens
Beekeepers use several methods to raise new queen bees, from natural processes to controlled interventions.
Natural or emergency queen rearing
Natural or emergency queen rearing occurs when a colony loses its queen. Worker bees select young larvae (ideally less than three days old) from worker comb and modify their cells into larger, vertically oriented queen cells. These larvae are fed royal jelly. While simple, the quality of emergency queens can vary because chosen larvae may have already received some worker bee diet, limiting their full queen potential.
Walk-away splits
Walk-away splits involve dividing a strong, queen-right colony into smaller units. One unit is left queenless but contains eggs and young larvae. This queenless portion will then initiate emergency queen cells from the available young brood. This method is straightforward, requires minimal specialized equipment, and relies on the bees’ natural instinct to rear a new queen. Success hinges on the presence of young brood and sufficient nurse bees in the queenless section.
Grafting
Grafting is a widely used, precise method for queen rearing. It involves manually transferring very young larvae (typically less than 24 hours old) from a “breeder” colony (chosen for desirable genetic traits) into artificial queen cell cups. This delicate process uses a specialized grafting tool to scoop the tiny larva and place it into the prepared cell cup. These grafted cell cups are then placed into a queenless “cell builder” colony rich in nurse bees, ensuring larvae receive abundant royal jelly. Grafting allows beekeepers to select the exact age and genetic lineage for new queens, leading to more consistent quality.
Queen rearing systems, such as the Jenter or Nicot kits
Queen rearing systems, such as Jenter or Nicot kits, offer an alternative to traditional grafting. These systems consist of a plastic comb-like unit with numerous small cell cups. A queen is confined within, encouraging her to lay eggs directly into the cups.
Once eggs hatch into larvae, individual cell cups containing them can be detached without direct handling. These cups are then transferred to a cell builder colony for bees to complete queen development. These systems simplify queen rearing by eliminating manual larval transfer.
Caring for New Queens and Introduction
After queen cells are capped, they require careful handling. Queen cells typically emerge around day 16 from the egg, or about 12 days after a larva is grafted. Beekeepers often transfer these mature, capped queen cells into small, queenless “mating nucs” a day or two before emergence. This prevents the first emerging queen from destroying other developing queen cells.
Once a virgin queen emerges, she spends about 5-6 days maturing sexually within the mating nuc before mating flights. During these flights, she leaves the hive to mate with multiple drones from various colonies in designated drone congregation areas. Successful mating ensures she receives enough sperm to lay fertilized eggs for her reproductive life, which can last several years. After returning, she typically begins laying eggs within 2-3 days.
Introducing a new queen to a colony requires careful attention for acceptance. The most common method uses a queen cage with a candy plug that worker bees chew through over several days, slowly releasing the queen. This gradual release allows the colony to acclimate to the new queen’s pheromones, increasing acceptance likelihood.
Before introduction, the existing queen (if present) must be removed, and any emergency queen cells destroyed. Leaving the colony queenless for 24 hours before introduction often makes them more receptive. Monitoring for egg-laying after introduction confirms successful integration.