by Hilary Kearney 4 min read
Every beekeeper needs to replace the queen in their hive at some point. This process is called ‘requeening’. There are many different reasons to requeen a hive and even more ways to do it! Hilary Kearney tells us how...
Some new beekeepers may be confused about when and why to requeen a hive. Commercial beekeepers with large operations often requeen their hives on a schedule. This practice is based on the theory that older queens will not lay as well as a young queen. Some requeen every year and others requeen every two years, but if you are a hobbyist, I don’t see any reason to requeen on a schedule. I often tell my students, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Beekeepers with large operations have hundreds or sometimes thousands of beehives. Unlike hobbyists, they simply do not have time to individually evaluate them all and decide if they need to be requeened. So, if your hive is thriving with a three-year-old queen, there really is no reason to replace her.
Reasons for replacing the queen include: colony health, under-performance, temperament or apiary expansion. You can read more about identifying whether your colony needs requeening here.
In the image below shows a commercially purchased queen bee marked to make identification easier.
Step 1: Before installing your new queen, you need to remove the old one. In most cases “remove” actually means kill. This is nobody’s favorite beekeeping task, but it is sometimes necessary. To kill the queen quickly grab her off the comb by the wings and then pinch her head between your fingers. Some beekeepers like to do this several days before installing the new queen and others do it on the same trip.
Step 2: Install the new queen. Your new queen will come inside a cage to protect her from the worker bees while they adjust to her smell. The queen breeder often gives specific instructions on how to install the queen. Since the breeder knows their bees best, I would suggest following their instructions. However, I generally position the queen cage on its side and affix it to comb with open brood with a rubber band.
The image below is an example of a queen arriving in a cage. Remove the cap before placing in the brood box and the queen will eat her through the candy blocking the exit.
Step 3: Follow up on your work. You do not want to disturb a colony too soon after installing a new queen or they may decide to reject her. I like to check one week after install to see if she has been released from her cage. Sometimes a queen can get stuck in the cage, after one week if this is the case, go ahead and release her. If she is out of the cage, try to find her, but you should also look for eggs. Once the new queen is laying you can consider your requeening a success. However, you need to be sure to check for supersedure cells. Worker bees will often try to overthrow their new queen and make a queen of their own genetics to replace her. If you do not find and destroy all the queen cells, the worker bees will kill the queen you installed once they have raised their own. For this reason, it is also important that you do not wait too long after installing the queen to check the hive. If you wait longer than it takes to raise a new queen, it will be too late.
Hilary Kearney is a full-time beekeeper in her home town of San Diego, California. Her business Girl Next Door Honey educates hundreds of new beekeepers each year. She is the author of the Beekeeping Like A Girl blog and maintains popular Instagram, Facebookand Twitter accounts. When she’s not rescuing bees, teaching about bees, photographing bees or managing one of her 60 colonies, she’s sleeping and dreaming of bees.
• Recommended for beekeeping in cold climates
• More room in the brood box which can lead to a larger bee colony
• An extra Flow Frame in the super for higher potential honey yield
• 10-frame Langstroth sizing
• Harvest 21kg (46 lb) when your Flow Super is full
• Our most popular Flow Hive size around the world
• A slightly lighter option for easier lifting
• 8-frame Langstroth sizing
• Harvest 18kg (40 lb) when your Flow Super is full
Control the height and level of your hive perfectly, even on uneven ground, ensuring the ultimate slope for honey harvesting.
Keep your hive level to aid in straight foundationless brood comb formation
Keep your hive dry and off the ground, preventing ground dwelling pests from gaining easy access.
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Control the height and level of your hive perfectly, even on uneven ground, ensuring the ultimate slope for honey harvesting.
Keep your hive level to aid in straight foundationless brood comb formation
Keep your hive dry and off the ground, preventing ground dwelling pests from gaining easy access.
Choose the size and model that matches your Flow Hive
8 Frame Brood Boxes are compatible with 6 Frame Flow Hives.
10 Frame Brood Boxes are compatible with 7 Frame Flow Hives.
If you need assistance in understanding which model Flow Hive you have, please contact support.
Bee suits are designed to be worn slightly baggy over your normal clothing, so it’s best to choose a slightly larger size than you would normally wear.
Be sure to give yourself plenty of room to move around with additional length for movement – ankles and wrists need to remain covered when you’re crouching, bending or stretching.
You do not want the suit to be tight fitting – it’s this loose fitting material that offers sting prevention.
If in doubt or between sizes, go up to the next size:
Height (cm) | Weight (kg) | ||||||||||
50 | 56 | 62 | 68 | 74 | 80 | 86 | 92 | 98 | 104 | 110 | |
145 - 150 | 2XS | 2XS | XS | S | |||||||
150 - 155 | 2XS | 2XS | XS | S | S | M | M | M | |||
155 - 160 | 2XS | 2XS | XS | S | S | M | M | M | L | ||
160 - 166 | XS | XS | XS | S | M | M | M | L | XL | XL | |
166 - 171 | XS | S | S | M | M | L | L | L | XL | XL | 2XL |
171 - 176 | M | M | M | M | L | L | L | L | XL | 2XL | 2XL |
176 - 181 | L | L | L | L | L | L | XL | XL | 2XL | 2XL | 3XL |
181 - 186 | L | L | L | L | XL | XL | XL | 2XL | 3XL | 4XL | |
186 - 191 | L | L | L | XL | XL | XL | 2XL | 3XL | 4XL | 5XL | |
191 - 197 | XL | XL | XL | 2XL | 2XL | 2XL | 3XL | 4XL | 5XL | ||
197 - 204 | 2XL | 2XL | 2XL | 3XL | 3XL | 4XL | 5XL | 5XL |
Height (feet) | Weight (lbs) | ||||||||||
110 | 123 | 137 | 150 | 163 | 176 | 190 | 203 | 216 | 229 | 243 | |
4'9" - 4'11" | 2XS | 2XS | XS | S | |||||||
4'11" - 5'1" | 2XS | 2XS | XS | S | S | M | M | M | |||
5'1" - 5'3" | 2XS | 2XS | XS | S | S | M | M | M | L | ||
5'3" - 5'5" | XS | XS | XS | S | M | M | M | L | XL | XL | |
5'5" - 5'7" | XS | S | S | M | M | L | L | L | XL | XL | 2XL |
5'7" - 5'9" | M | M | M | M | L | L | L | L | XL | 2XL | 2XL |
5'9" - 5'11" | L | L | L | L | L | L | XL | XL | 2XL | 2XL | 3XL |
5'11" - 6'1" | L | L | L | L | XL | XL | XL | 2XL | 3XL | 4XL | |
6'1" - 6'3" | L | L | L | XL | XL | XL | 2XL | 3XL | 4XL | 5XL | |
6'3" - 6'5" | XL | XL | XL | 2XL | 2XL | 2XL | 3XL | 4XL | 5XL | ||
6'5" - 6' 7" | 2XL | 2XL | 2XL | 3XL | 3XL | 4XL | 5XL | 5XL |
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Hive
Flow Hive 2 - 6 Frames – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Hive 2 - 7 Frames – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Bee Suit
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - 2XS – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - XS – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - S – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - M – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - L – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - XL – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - 2XL – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - 3XL – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - 4XL – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Bee Suit – Organic Cotton - 5XL – Dispatches in 1-2 working days
Flow Smoker
Flow Smoker – Dispatches in 1-2 working days