Replacing a Queen#
1 . When is the appropriate time to replace a queen?
When she stops filling a frame with brood
When the colony is overly defensive
When the colony has only minimal bees on the frames
At the first sign of trouble
Shotgun brood pattern - a sign of a failing or ill-mated queen
2 . When installing a new caged queen into your hive, should you remove the attendant bees first?
Yes, removing the attendant bees increases the chance that the hive will accept the new queen
3 . When installing a new queen, how do you know that the bees in the hive are not ready to accept the new queen and what is that behavior called?
An aggressive response when the bees cling tightly to the offending queen in a solid mass and are biting the cage. The increased temperature generated by the bees will eventually kill the queen. This is called “balling”.
4 . When installing a new caged queen into a colony, if you see supercedure cells in the hive, what should you do and what does this mean for the new queen?
Cut out the supercedure cells
Supercedure cells decrease the chance that the new caged queen will be accepted
5 . How can you improve the acceptance rate of a new queen if you suspect that you have laying workers?
Remove all frames that workers have laid into. Place 1 or 2 combs of emerging brood from another colony next to the new caged queen for several days. The brood pheromone and queen pheromone will suppress the laying worker ovaries. The newly emerging workers will adopt the queen as their own and protect her.
6 . How do you confirm the presence of laying workers?
Inspect the frames for multiple eggs in cells.