# Raising a honey bee queen



## Frog Pond Farm (May 10, 2015)

Huh? What do you mean in your house?


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Welcome to Beesource!


>> I wanted to get a queen egg cell/ larvae and try to hatch it out in my house ...


It is possible to use an incubator to do part of the process of raising a queen bee, but its somewhat of a complicated process (at least for a new beekeeper). You would need to start with a fertilized larva, and given that, the bees in a hive can typically do it themselves. 

Here is a thread about incubators to read while your bees are raising a queen: 
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?286777-Talk-About-Your-Incubator


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

Welcome. 

How do you know there isn't already a queen in the box? Swarms usually have queens with them. Unless something happened to her or she was a virgin and didn't get mated, there is a good possibility that your hive is already sound. G


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## gezellig (Jun 11, 2014)

You have a lot of READING to do. With a swarm, your bees will be fine (beginner lesson), so just leave them bee. Just read, read, read, and you'll see the simple fact of catching the swarm that you're already on the right track. Congrats.


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## beebiggener101 (Jun 4, 2015)

I was wondering if I hatched a queen cell and took a few worker bees from my other hive and put them in a other hive and took them off about a half a mile form the hive I got the worker bees from if they would start a new hive and if the workers would work for the new queen and not go back to the hive they came from??? I need info fast pls !!!!!!!!!!!



Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Agis Apiaries (Jul 22, 2014)

beebiggener101 said:


> I was wondering if I hatched a queen cell and took a few worker bees from my other hive and put them in a other hive and took them off about a half a mile form the hive I got the worker bees from if they would start a new hive and if the workers would work for the new queen and not go back to the hive they came from??? I need info fast pls !!!!!!!!!!!
> Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


No. A queen and a few bees will just die. Not enough to start a colony.


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## oldfordguy (Dec 5, 2009)

What you need is an observation hive.


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## beebiggener101 (Jun 4, 2015)

So nothing would happen to the old queen and hive I got the workers from even if the new queen and few workers did make it??


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

beebiggener101 said:


> So nothing would happen to the old queen and hive I got the workers from even if the new queen and few workers did make it??


so you're gonna try anyway.........SHM do you even understand how a queen is made? If you are wanting more colonies, you need to do a split, not try to raise a queen in your house with a few bees. Andy you DON"T need the info fast, You need to let that hive develop before you could even think about splitting. A swarm this late in N. IL will have just enough time to grow large enough to over winter. by the time the first round of brood starts forraging, it will be beyond my own personal Drop dead date for walkaway splits here in IL.


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## beebiggener101 (Jun 4, 2015)

Harley Craig said:


> so you're gonna try anyway.........SHM do you even understand how a queen is made?


Yes I am still going to try and Yes I do know how a queen is made!!:no:All I was wondering was if anything would happen to the old hive, like Maybe the worker bees for the new queen would go back and get the other workers and leave the old queen or if the new queen workers would take the new queen to the old queen and something bad happen like the new queen killing the old queen or vice versa??!!


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

May I suggest you spend some time reading this website. Good Luck. G

http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Haa, since you know how a queen is made, do you know how to keep
the old queen and the new queen safe? And how do you plan to do that?
Imagine what will happen to the workers getting their buddies to kill off the new or old queen? Do you think they will do so to each others? 
And in what circumstances does the new queen killing the old queen or the other way around? Does the old queen going to kill the new queen too? Which queen do you think
will win in the end?


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## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

oldfordguy said:


> What you need is an observation hive.


That's just cruel.


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## beebiggener101 (Jun 4, 2015)

beepro said:


> Haa
> do you know how to keep
> the old queen and the new queen safe? And how do you plan to do that?
> Imagine what will happen to the workers getting their buddies to kill off the new or old queen? Do you think they will do so to each others?
> ...


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

If your wanting to take a swarm cell and hatch it out inside you will need a incubator. I use a regular still air chicken incubator to buy me time when working with cells or to hatch out virgins for a customer. But, you will need more than a few bees and a virgin queen to make a viable hive. It would be much easier to just move a frame with a queen cell on it and two other frames into a new box and you would have a nice little nuc. It's also harder to get virgin queens accepted even if you are successful in getting a cell to hatch out. 

If your wanting to make a queen from scratch there are many threads to read just search queen rearing and you will have multiple treads to choose from. It's too much info to try and put all in one thread because there are so many different ways to raise queens.


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

beebiggener101 said:


> So nothing would happen to the old queen and hive I got the workers from....


Nothing will happen to the old queen in the hive you are talking a few workers from, unless you accidentally kill her while trying to find a capped queen cell that might but probably won't be present in a new swarm hive.



beebiggener101 said:


> .....even if the new queen and few workers did make it??


That's not even in the realm of possibility. It doesn't work that way. A few thousand workers might have a chance.

Wayne


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

jdmidwest said:


> That's just cruel.


I disagree. I think it is sound advice. G


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## waynesgarden (Jan 3, 2009)

biggraham610 said:


> I disagree. I think it is sound advice. G


A glass jar with a few air holes will serve the same purpose for the doomed bees and be a lot less expensive. Let's not give the OP any false hope that an observation hive will allow a few workers to raise a queen.

Wayne


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## biggraham610 (Jun 26, 2013)

That's not what I meant at all. I was under the impression the OB hive advice was to watch and learn about bees, not to try the idea the OP was suggesting. Perhaps I mistook the OFG was saying. I don't think he was insinuating that a few bees could raise a queen in an OB Hive. G


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

beebiggener101 said:


> Yes I am still going to try and Yes I do know how a queen is made!!:no:All I was wondering was if anything would happen to the old hive, like Maybe the worker bees for the new queen would go back and get the other workers and leave the old queen or if the new queen workers would take the new queen to the old queen and something bad happen like the new queen killing the old queen or vice versa??!!


Well if it's an old hive made out of wood it will just sit there unless you throw gasoline on it and strike a match to it then it will burn up and then the workers and Queens would have no choice other than live together and work and get along just because you want them to yes this a stupid answer and I apologize in advance.:scratch:


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

I think everyone understands why bee losses are so high among new people now. This guy is going to drive a cup of bees and a queen cell (that doesn't exist) and throw it in a box a half mile from his house. Then report that as a loss two weeks from now on the BIP survey.


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## crocodilu911 (Apr 17, 2015)

jwcarlson said:


> I think everyone understands why bee losses are so high among new people now. This guy is going to drive a cup of bees and a queen cell (that doesn't exist) and throw it in a box a half mile from his house. Then report that as a loss two weeks from now on the BIP survey.


yeah, i think you are right. i had a guy help me out Sunday, and it seems they are on the same pill. i was showing him the bees and queen and as i was explaining to him how things work, he asks me out of the blue, how do i do to sterilize all the mails in the hive and make them work for honey.


so , hahahaha, had a blast man. so i do think the initiator of this post should read and watch some videos before doing anything about his hive.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

crocodilu911 said:


> yeah, i think you are right. i had a guy help me out Sunday, and it seems they are on the same pill. i was showing him the bees and queen and as i was explaining to him how things work, he asks me out of the blue, how do i do to sterilize all the mails in the hive and make them work for honey.
> 
> 
> so , hahahaha, had a blast man. so i do think the initiator of this post should read and watch some videos before doing anything about his hive.


Hahahahahaha, where do people come up with this stuff?  I'm not terribly experienced, but it amazes me just how clueless some people are when they start... and don't even really show any drive to learn. I know folks are all different... but sometimes I wonder.

I talked to someone last week who caught a very nice swarm (about 6 pounds when they weighed it... not sure why they weighed it, but that's besides the point). He had a little tiny mating nuc, one of those little hives with frames less than the width of a dollar bill. That's what he was planning on putting them in. They ended up hacking together a top bar hive and left them there for a few days. Then shook them into a THREE deep Langs. I tried to tell them one box was enough, but he "isn't in it for the honey". I tried to explain that I wasn't concerned about his honey production, but helping the bees get established so they'll hopefully survive the winter. Someone asked them if they had any honey yet (really?), and his wife said "No, but in a couple months we're going to have TONS." And he was feeding them honey from a squirt bottle. "I know you're not supposed to feed them honey because of diseases or whatever, but." But what? I just kind of laugh... it's entertaining at least. Thankfully, there is enough geographic distance between us to shelter me from any sort of collapses his bees might eventually have.

I do genuinely wish them (and the OP) the best, but it's like they wake up one morning and decide they want to keep bees. And then want to do all sorts of hairbrained experiments too. I guess "that's how you learn"... if you want to repeat the same mistakes that a bunch of people figured out eons ago.


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## crocodilu911 (Apr 17, 2015)

it's all those Hollywood movies, you know, like " the bee movie".


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

jw, you need to keep in touch with that guy. You'll be able to buy some cheap "barely" used hives and such from him in about a year.


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## Agis Apiaries (Jul 22, 2014)

Brad Bee said:


> You'll be able to buy some cheap "barely" used hives and such from him in about a year.


I'll be looking to see all the slightly used "Flow" hives coming onto the market.


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

Agis Apiaries said:


> I'll be looking to see all the slightly used "Flow" hives coming onto the market.


This is exactly what i have been thinking. A lot of what i am reading from folks who have purchased the Flo-Hive is that they seem to think this is all the management they need: shake (probably use the no-shake method) a package into a Flow-Hive and go back in a couple months to turn the taps. Not sure they have a clue as to the real management requirements for a healthy colony.


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## gnor (Jun 3, 2015)

lemmje said:


> This is exactly what i have been thinking. A lot of what i am reading from folks who have purchased the Flo-Hive is that they seem to think this is all the management they need: shake (probably use the no-shake method) a package into a Flow-Hive and go back in a couple months to turn the taps. Not sure they have a clue as to the real management requirements for a healthy colony.


Yeah, I've had a quick look at a lot of the beekeeping ideas that are floating around, and it seems that they all have drawbacks: hard to manage, hard to winterize, hard to harvest, and so on. I keep coming back to old Mr. Langstroth's design as the most practical for my part of the world.
I haven't even considered the FloHive, because right off the bat, I can see several things that don't fit with what I want to do, which is to farm honey in a sustainable and cost effective manner.


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## gnor (Jun 3, 2015)

beebiggener101 said:


> I was wondering if I hatched a queen cell and took a few worker bees from my other hive and put them in a other hive and took them off about a half a mile form the hive I got the worker bees from if they would start a new hive and if the workers would work for the new queen and not go back to the hive they came from??? I need info fast pls !!!!!!!!!!!Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The easiest way to do this is to move the old hive with the old queen a few feet away, and set up a new hive exactly in the old location. Move a frame of brood with a queen cell, and some honey and pollen into the new hive. The nurse bees and newly hatched brood will stay with the old queen, while the older bees will return to the new hive, help raise the new queen, and build up stores quickly.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

beebiggener101 said:


> Hi there ok well I have had a honey bee hive in a tree for a long time and a few weeks ago they swarmed so I caught the swarm and put it in a bee box and since then I've read you need to check the hive a little bit to make sure the bees aren't making a new queen and going to swarm. But I wanted to check the hive and so I wanted to get a queen egg cell/ larvae and try to hatch it out in my house and wanted to know what I should make and what steps to take to care for it properly. I want every little bit of info that people have for me so pls start talkin all you bee experts!!!!.
> 
> 
> Thanks everybody!!!!!!


Have you completed your experiment yet? Why haven't you tried this in your previous four years of beekeeping?


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## Brad Bee (Apr 15, 2013)

Agis Apiaries said:


> I'll be looking to see all the slightly used "Flow" hives coming onto the market.


If the USDA would develop a biscuit tree, I'd be all over that flow hive. I could pick biscuits, and open the tap on the hive, instant breakfast.


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

Brad Bee said:


> If the USDA would develop a biscuit tree, I'd be all over that flow hive. I could pick biscuits, and open the tap on the hive, instant breakfast.


Hopefully those biscuits would come off in August. Then you could grab a Butter Badger by the throat, squeeze, and have hot biscuits, butter and honey.

Alex


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

AHudd said:


> Hopefully those biscuits would come off in August. Then you could grab a Butter Badger by the throat, squeeze, and have hot biscuits, butter and honey.
> 
> Alex


Then if only i could get milk directly from my cow.....wait, bad example.  But then again, my cow is a steer, so......


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## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

biggraham610 said:


> I disagree. I think it is sound advice. G


Observation hives have a low survival rate. And they are expensive. I am sorry I mistook your post as a joke.


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