# Trying to rear a new queen bee in Florida in January



## Swampsquash (Oct 25, 2014)

I had this same issue....I just merged with one of my hives to make a large hive and will split it in march probably! Good luck


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## Apprentice (Oct 22, 2014)

Swampsquash said:


> I had this same issue....I just merged with one of my hives to make a large hive and will split it in march probably! Good luck



Hi Swampsquash. Thanks for your reply. I am not sure I want to do this. Here's my reasoning: If I put that many extra bees inside an existing hive, what good will that do during the winter? Aren't these the winter bees that will be dying off before the nectar starts flowing in the spring? Won't they help deplete the honey stores of the hive that they got joined with?

Maybe I'm missing something (hence my nickname). In theory it's not making sense to me to join these bees with an existing hive. It's like putting twice as many bees inside the place and disrupting everything without really helping them out. I would have to feed the bees sugar water until spring for them to just die off anyway. And the honey I did leave for them to live off would only support the existing hive, and not the newcomers.

Anybody out there got a hive to produce a new queen during the winter?


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

There are drones in a few hives here, this cold snap won't help but my guess is that a virgin should be able to find a few drones


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## Apprentice (Oct 22, 2014)

Mbeck said:


> There are drones in a few hives here, this cold snap won't help but my guess is that a virgin should be able to find a few drones


Thanks Mbeck. That's what I'm hoping for. I'll have to watch for those eggs then to see if she was successful. When do the drones usually start showing up for the new season in Florida?


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## babraham (Nov 16, 2014)

I am in south florida. Most of my hives still have drones. Maybe not after this week with the cold( lows in 50s). I do have a 3 frame nuc trying to create a new queen. I will know the answer in 2-3 weeks


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## Swampsquash (Oct 25, 2014)

Are your bees raising brood right now? Mine are starting to ramp up....Try to raise a queen and if it doesn't work merge whats left....You would probably need to fed them but in another month the flow should be close to it's start...Esp if your around citrus. The more bees would help them produce more brood...I try to have hives as packed full as possible before I do splits. I know feeding them is no fun.

My .02 someone else may have a better idea.


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## Apprentice (Oct 22, 2014)

babraham said:


> I am in south florida. Most of my hives still have drones. Maybe not after this week with the cold( lows in 50s). I do have a 3 frame nuc trying to create a new queen. I will know the answer in 2-3 weeks


Thanks babraham. We're not going to be as lucky as you in Boynton Beach. We're supposed to get a low of 37 today with this snap.


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

Maybe Mid February in your area? If there are commercial Beekeepers near you (I'd think so) they should be feeding heavy now and that may up your odds.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I'm sorry but the bees follow a strict expansion and contraction
phase during the 4 seasons. Disrupting their cycle means trouble along
the way. I just did a hive check today and found a big queen cell with
a big larva in it. I tore it up and took out the larva because all late Autumn
of last year I baby sit 2 virgin queens without any potential of finding 
good drones out there. Too late! The weather was too cold for the 
mating flight so they stay in and I have to get rid of them. Actually the
bees got rid of them on a hive combine. So should you do a combine probably
the original queen will be balled when the foreign bees do not like her. It is 
rather risky for a combine this early in the season. It is your choice though!
For getting a new mated queen this early I don't think you can find good drones
for her mating flight. A queen that is not properly mated will produce the drones
larvae when she ran out of juice later on. Been there before!
So your only option is to do a combine or order a HI queen. If you like to
take a risk then find your weakest hive for this combine. And do it properly
so that the original queen will not get kill. Skipping the introduction process
and you will have a queen less hive with many more bees to deal with. Later on
have to deal with the DL (drone layers) too. I don't like DLs either. Too many
unfavorable condition for your situation now. Forget about making the new queen.
You can distribute the broods and bees through out your apiary into other strong hives. Say
one or 2 frame of bees in each strong hive. Another method is to move a queen right
hive next to this queen less hive. Then move the queen less hive to another area.
The queen right hive will absorb all the foragers from the queen less hive. Finally distribute
the broods and nurse bees to other hives. Problem solve!


Too early queen cell:


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## texanbelchers (Aug 4, 2014)

It is possible, especially with the weird weather this year. I had a dink hive with a crippled queen going into winter. I had already written them off, but was hopeful she would keep it going until the spring. I checked them on 12-11 and found 1 capped queen cell, 1 open cell, and no queen. On Christmas Eve I had a new queen in the hive. I checked last Friday and had a couple patches of capped worker brood.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Ahh, ha! So it is true after all that
beekeeping is all local. I have a cripple queen
at her right hind leg now. She still manage to lay but
not that fast compare to other queens. They have been
trying to supersede her since last October. Still she holds on
and keep the hive going. Since she is still around I like to
keep her for some grafting later on. Found out that if you keep
on cutting the capped queen cells out they will keep her in. Once a
week will give you lots of new queen through out the seasons. This
is what I like to repeat this year. Different location with the same
issue but different result. Now I know why beekeepers have so much
differences in opinions and experiences.


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## tommyt (Aug 7, 2010)

If this helps 
I know of a couple keepers north of I4 that will graft in Dec. Jan.
Not a large amount but they succeed.
If it was me I would let them raise their own,if it doesn't work,
By the calendar you'll be into Feb. and many many people start
Splits on Valentine's Day or a bit sooner. 
If they don't requeen,I would combine ( to keep from DL) then in a couple weeks
Later Split them.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I saw drones here 2 weeks ago in IL, I would think you should be fine in FL. They may not get bred to potential, you could always pull the queen and let them raise a new one later once it's prime mating season.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Remember this is still winter time.
The foragers will die off while the hive dwindling
away without the young replacement bees. Can they hold
off until the queen gets mated and laying? In a month's time
many more bees will die. Then you have to rob bees from the other
supporting hives to boost its population unless you want them to 
all perish. This is a careful consideration situation that the
prudent beekeeper have to think about. Being local or location 
specific what works on the other side might not work in your location.
If it is just for experiment sake then you can try to find out the
end result. I like to do bee experiment similar to this when the
situation arrised. But doing it during the winter time is a bit 
risky if you don't know what is involve to make a good mated queen.
If it is this easy then I'm doing it here already. The timing is
just a bit off at this time.


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

Beepro beekeeping is pretty much year round in his neck of the woods. There should still be drones in the area for successful mating and the weather isn't much different than when I start my first round of queens.


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## broodhead (May 30, 2009)

You can probably force a queen at his very time period. I made 20 splits two weeks ago and 18 of 20 took. I am just south of you and there are plenty of drones in most all my hives. I am forcing a few splits to make heir own queen and 100% of them have made their own queen cells. Seems like winter never came this year.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

If you DO have mature drones, you *MUST* feed them pollen substitute continually, even go so far as to spike it with real pollen. The bees will escort the drones out in a cold snap if pollen reserves are low.

If no drones, queens won't help much => do a newspaper combine instead, or buy a mated queen if you can find one. In January, I'd try Hawaii for mated queens.


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## broodhead (May 30, 2009)

Feeding pollen substitute is not necessary, this is Florida and the bees are still storing pollen. This is a strange weather year, if you check those hives closely you will find new nectar as well. Melbourne is only 45 minutes away, our coolest weather up until this little cold front has been only about 55 and still daytime temps reach in the mid 80's. I usually don't graft until after Valentine Day, but this year threw a wrench in that plan.


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## Bowfinger (Apr 17, 2015)

Don't know about south Florida but the pines are starting bloom. My bees are bringing in lots of pollen in on the warm days. they had capped a few drone cells yesterday. I would think there would be drones that far south.


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