# Oldest Queen You Have?



## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

Hi Everyone,

What is the oldest, VERIFIABLE, queen you have? I am curious to hear how old your queens are...

For selection, time, is a great indicator. The more measurements that I can collect over time, the more accurate the measurements become as an indicator for future generations.

For example, I have a small percentage of queens that make it to their 5th spring, but I have not had any make it through that year. The old queens are kept in full size production colonies without any special attention. I want to see what these old girls can do!

Part of my interest in asking for your input stems from the "Drone Project" I did a couple of years back. I still have a couple of the queens that were inseminated using drones from all over the US. If they make it through another winter, I was thinking of repeating the project using drones from really old survivor queens. Any interest?

Thanks,
Joe


----------



## jrbbees (Apr 4, 2010)

62 years old. Country feral stock. Still the boss in the hive.


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

I find it a bit of a stretch that there are 5 year old queens in a full production colony. Not saying it's impossible but i've never seen that. Most I've verifyably seen is 3 years.

I had a breeder make it into it's 5th year but the way the breeder hives were set up the queen was in a compartment with around just 8 inches square of comb to lay in. The way the hives were set up and managed the bees could not supersede, but they would have if they could.

Also, that was in pre varroa times.


----------



## jeff123fish (Jul 3, 2007)

I have a couple that have gone through 3 seasons, going see if they make it into their fourth


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Requeening this summer turned up lots of yellow dots (2007) and a few white dot (2006). I don't look at everything anymore...as far as dots goes. Many supercede successfully, and make big strong colonies so the queen doesn't get looked for.

So I would say that most go 2 or 3 years before they are superceded.


----------



## gregstahlman (Oct 7, 2009)

had an I.I. queen from Joe that lasted 3 years and then we lost track of her because the marker rubbed off the hive. was used a breeder for one season. the other 2 seasons she made it to cali twice for almond pollination. then made it back to SD to make 2 more honey crops. she was a Karnica with the marking B10. i believe we sent you some virgins from her a few years ago.


----------



## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

Mike, 

What do you do with the old queens? I assume they are being requeened since they are lagging the others?

Greg,

Yes, I remember your dad talking about that queen. It is nice to see those old girls make it through a production setting such as the one you run!

Please tell your family I say hello.

Joe


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

JSL said:


> Mike,
> 
> What do you do with the old queens? I assume they are being requeened since they are lagging the others? Joe


Yes, they get "removed". If I thought they would be of use...I'll try to remember next year.


----------



## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

jrbbees said:


> 62 years old. Country feral stock. Still the boss in the hive.


How did you come up with a 62 year old queen????


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

jrbbees said:


> 62 years old. Country feral stock. Still the boss in the hive.


Sounds like a good woman


----------



## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

I had a feral queen that I pulled out of an old barn 4 years ago this past spring. At the time she was cut out, she was marked and clipped. This spring, she started laying a shotgun brood pattern and then the hive dwindled to nothing, instead of her being superseded. How old she was when I pulled her out of the barn walls, I have no idea.

But, from her, I've bred several daughters and grand-daughters. I'm 5th generation with some of her offspring now. No medications. Low mite levels. I couldn't be happier!

DS


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Most don't seem to make it past three, but some make it to five.

From "Better Queens" page 18:

"In Indiana we had a queen we named Alice which lived to the ripe old age of eight years and two months and did excellent work in her seventh year. There can be no doubt about the authenticity of this statement. We sold her to John Chapel of Oakland City, Indiana, and she was the only queen in his yard with wings clipped. This, however is a rare exception. At the time I was experimenting with artificial combs with wooden cells in which the queen laid."--Jay Smith 

I would point out that Jay says: "This, however is a rare exception."

I think three years has always been pretty typical of the useful life of a queen. 

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbetterqueens.htm


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Michael, that book is the best queen breeding book out there. (excluding modern methods such as AI).

Only that one story had me wondering about Jay. But I wasn't there, so who knows.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

My guess is that "Alice" was a breeder queen in a limited space laying a lot less eggs than a production queen and so she didn't run out so soon.


----------



## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Probably correct. But I think he should have said so.


----------

