What have you done today bee-related?

[NigelP]

I have ged Marshall and some buckfast from BShoney as I find them very productive and calm. I did try my locals but they swarm so much with little production. I have a few island mated queens coming this year from buckfast.dk which i believed are Keld Brandstrups Buckfast strain that I hope I can do some breeding from after testing. I have only tried introducing clipped queens to colonies (always 100% superceded asap) and clipping queens in the first year, maybe will try an older queen but i generally dont keep them long.

You will enjoy the island mated queens Liam, they are usually excellent, , but be warned every once in a while there is duff one. Not really the breeders fault as they don't have time to do anything other than check they are laying before despatching. It's the same for any other bought queen.
I tend to only buy queens from registered Buckfast breeders, too many are selling "Buckfast" queens which are not Buckfast. And how are you to tell??
I once bought 6 Italian bred Buckfast queens on a mates recommendation. Never again....they were awful.
Same as I bought some Carniolans from one of the heavy advertised bee breeders....calm.... the buggers chased my truck down the track from the apiary.
Kelds are expensive but great for breeding your own queens from. I have 2 ordered at the moment, which cannot arrive too soon as I now only have 1 island mated queen left for eggs for re-queening. (other was superseded but her daughter is so placid I may be tempted to use her as well)

[Patrick]

May have misunderstood you Liam but if you are finding your clipped introduced queen always get superseded, I suspect that more a factor of queen introduction rather than her simply being clipped, but that may be wrong. Certainly some bees are more problematic to re-quuen than others. I hardly ever bother clipping the queen in the year she is produced - she is highly unlikely to part of a swarm attempt the rest of that season and so there is nothing useful to be gained.

Another advantage of leaving it until the following spring (generally the first or second inspection in March / April when there are few other bees so she is easier to find), is that if the marker paint from the previous year has worn off then any already clipped queens can be assumed to already be 2 seasons old and any unclipped queens must be less than one season old. Also if a fatal mishap should occur whilst marking / clipping (and it is really rare that it does, honest), there is plenty of the season to remedy it - such as introducing a spare swarm cell from another hive or letting them raise an emergency cell etc.

After two years of very low swarming attempts this year has certainly made up for it. Oddly, in most years I have found clipped queens will still be there several days after the first swarm cell is sealed, making splits pretty straightforward. This year many of them tried to go as soon as the first cells were sealed. A local colleague of many years experience has found the same. Very annoying to then have queenless hives but at least we still have all the workers at home and not set up in neighbour's chimneys..

[MickBBKA]

I have come to believe that clipping queens in their first season makes the bees think they are damaged and increases the chance of them being superseded. I now only mark in year one then clip in year two which seems to work for me. I have quite a few 3 season queens these days and they are going like trains.

[NigelP]

. I have only tried introducing clipped queens to colonies (always 100% superceded asap)

Just a thought Liam, but many of the hives I introduce queens to will raise a few queen cells early doors. I don't think these are true supersedure cells, more likely the bees realise the queen is "different" and try to raise their own. I knock them down and they rarely reappear. When the queen is surrounded by her own progeny all is well.

Blimey Mick 1 out of 25.....more like 25% in my apiaries, mainly F2;s and F3's.

[AdamD]

I haven't seen a problem with my clipped queens being superceded although I have heard of flown-in queens being superceded soon after introduction - possibly as a result of being caged for too long?
I do clip my queens although I am not too worried about it in the first year. I'll do it if I see her and I have scissors in my pocket and I have time. I will mark them but not usually in the first few weeks after laying as they are very flighty. Most are clipped and marked before winter. It's easy to see whether there's been supercedure the following spring, provided I actually mark my notes at the same time as I clip/mark so I know what I've got.
It's not uncommon for me to go into a hive in spring to find the queen to clip and mark her only to find that I did it 6 months before and forgot to write it down.

[Alfred]

I have come to believe that clipping queens in their first season makes the bees think they are damaged and increases the chance of them being superseded. .....

That rings true -BS honeybees (even if no one else)no longer offer clipping as an optional extra.

I'm really toying with the ramp idea.

[JoJo36]

A nice ramp sounds good Alfred, what about a few swings and see-saw for entertainment during the summer months or a hot tub for the queen!!
Sorry I couldn't help that!!

[AdamD]

Someone referred to Brother Adam's ramps as Mouse Ramps. They may be something that should be removed before winter?

[Alfred]

Ok not toying now.
You pair of dream crushers

[Liam]

You will enjoy the island mated queens Liam, they are usually excellent, , but be warned every once in a while there is duff one. Not really the breeders fault as they don't have time to do anything other than check they are laying before despatching. It's the same for any other bought

[/quote]

Any ideas if we are given advanced notice on delivery on these .DK queens?, Emailed them a few times with no response. obviously I need prep time before she arrives but I have never used them before so not sure how this works, they just send them out June and we panic on arrival?