# Re-Queening at French Hill Apiaries



## clyderoad (Jun 10, 2012)

thanks for the post Mike.
it's nice to see other yards and how things are done outside of my 'own little world'.


----------



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Thank you for being so open about how you do the things that you do, Michael! I really appreciate it. Your stuff rises above the noise of most of us "never done its" and Beesource is better for it.


----------



## mcon672 (Mar 5, 2015)

Yes thanks for the video. Screen introduction cages just made the build list for this winter.


----------



## Outdoor N8 (Aug 7, 2015)

I just watched that video last night!

I had two takeaway impressions (besides the free how to). At one point, and in a reduced area, even MP has difficulty seeing the queen! I am not alone. The second, even with a lot of flight and bee movement around you; how little you use smoke.

Truly enjoyed the video.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Michael Palmer said:


> A nice little video posted by my buddy Richard Noel from Brittany, France.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> http://youtu.be/aGbjfYV8v38


Enjoyed, thanks.


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Outdoor N8 said:


> I had two takeaway impressions (besides the free how to). At one point, and in a reduced area, even MP has difficulty seeing the queen! I am not alone. The second, even with a lot of flight and bee movement around you; how little you use smoke.


Yes, I use as little smoke as possible. Overall, my bees are pretty gentle, so why bother. 

Some queens show up like a neon sign. Some are near impossible to find. It's not always you. Something I've discovered over many years of looking for queens in mating nucs and production hives. It wasn't the Klingons who invented the cloaking device. It was queen bees, and they use it to hide from you. 

No? How many times have we located the queen in a mating nuc, and had her disappear right before your very eyes. She knew you were looking and turned on her device. The procedure to find her is to look away, and then look back. She thinks you've given up, turns off cloaking, and there she is.


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Michael Palmer said:


> Yes, I use as little smoke as possible. Overall, my bees are pretty gentle, so why bother.
> 
> Some queens show up like a neon sign. Some are near impossible to find. It's not always you. Something I've discovered over many years of looking for queens in mating nucs and production hives. It wasn't the Klingons who invented the cloaking device. It was queen bees, and they use it to hide from you.
> 
> No? How many times have we located the queen in a mating nuc, and had her disappear right before your very eyes. She knew you were looking and turned on her device. The procedure to find her is to look away, and then look back. She thinks you've given up, turns off cloaking, and there she is.


Yes, I've always maintained the "second find" is always the toughest even though you know darned well she is on the frame. Push in cages come in pretty handy if you have much work to do after you've found her.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

"No? How many times have we located the queen in a mating nuc, and had her disappear right before your very eyes. She knew you were looking and turned on her device. The procedure to find her is to look away, and then look back. She thinks you've given up, turns off cloaking, and there she is."

She was beamed up Michael.


----------



## Happy Honey Farm (Feb 14, 2010)

very nice video I wish you made more.


----------



## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

So if you have a queen in a cage that hasn't laid for 4 days or more you use a push in cage. If you have a package that has a caged queen that hasn't laid for days but you aren't putting them in their new home with any brood do simply let her accompanying bees chew her free? If you have other hives and can move a frame of brood without emerged bees would you be best to put the package queen under a cage until she stars to lay...or not?


----------



## rookie2531 (Jul 28, 2014)

WBVC said:


> So if you have a queen in a cage that hasn't laid for 4 days or more you use a push in cage. If you have a package that has a caged queen that hasn't laid for days but you aren't putting them in their new home with any brood do simply let her accompanying bees chew her free? If you have other hives and can move a frame of brood without emerged bees would you be best to put the package queen under a cage until she stars to lay...or not?


I'm pretty sure this video is about requeening after you take the old queen out. The four days is about letting the old queens pheromones disappear after you cull her. Not using the push in because she hasn't laid, but using it to keep her alive. And having 100% acceptance of her.


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

rookie2531 said:


> I'm pretty sure this video is about requeening after you take the old queen out. The four days is about letting the old queens pheromones disappear after you cull her. Not using the push in because she hasn't laid, but using it to keep her alive. And having 100% acceptance of her.


Yes it is about re-queening after killing old queen. But the old queen's pheromones disappear rather quickly. Hours, not days. So it's about the condition of the new queen...whether or not she is a laying queen.

You're removing a laying queen from a colony and asking that colony to accept a non-laying queen. That queen you have in a queen cage is a non-laying queen, no matter if she's been in that cage overnight or for days. By leaving the new queen under the cage for 4 days, she comes into lay and is cared for by the young workers who have emerged under the cage. When you pull the cage, she's a laying queen and acts like one...going about her business.


----------



## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

What if you pull a young laying queen directly from a mating nuc? Do you also put her under a cage?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Brother Adam did. Pulled the new queen from the mating nuc, pulled the old queen from the hive to be requeened, ran the new queen into the old queen's hive, ran the old queen into the mating nuc. Removed the old queen when he had a cell ready to replace her.


----------



## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

Michael Palmer said:


> Brother Adam did. Pulled the new queen from the mating nuc, pulled the old queen from the hive to be requeened, ran the new queen into the old queen's hive, ran the old queen into the mating nuc. Removed the old queen when he had a cell ready to replace her.


So the new queens pheromones is accepted by the bees immediately?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Yes, that's what I'm saying. His belief was that queens aren't rejected because they "smell differently" than the old queen. They are rejected because they aren't laying queens and don't act like laying queens. I think he was correct. I unite 4 frame mating nucs, after removing one of the queens. The bees from the two different nucs don't fight or kill the remaining queen.

But, he did say that if you have a special queen you should take extra precautions.


----------



## SRatcliff (Mar 19, 2011)

Michael Palmer said:


> Yes, that's what I'm saying. His belief was that queens aren't rejected because they "smell differently" than the old queen. They are rejected because they aren't laying queens and don't act like laying queens. I think he was correct. I unite 4 frame mating nucs, after removing one of the queens. The bees from the two different nucs don't fight or kill the remaining queen.
> 
> But, he did say that if you have a special queen you should take extra precautions.


I've shaken extra bees into already established 5-frame nucs, and many times they ball the queen. Most don't actually kill her, but some do. Is there some difference in that and just moving queens around?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Don't know. He did say that exposure to light might have something to do with it. I wonder what would happen if you left the donor colony and the 5 frame nuc exposed to the light before you shook the bees.


----------

