BBKA Forum

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  • BBKA Queen Rearing Training - anyone heard anything??

  • Queen breeding specialism discussion forum.
Queen breeding specialism discussion forum.
 #796  by AdamD
 25 Sep 2018, 10:47
About 16,000 queens came into the country from Europe in 2018 according to Beebase. That's 3x more than 10 years' ago.
Does that mean the the number of beekeepers/colonies has increased by that many, or do we just go to an online shop and buy a queen 'cos it's easy?
 #804  by NigelP
 25 Sep 2018, 16:46
Could be more the "grass is always greener"....I know I wouldn't wish my local mongrel bees on anyone. Nasty vicious, annual swarmers with non-fecund queens whose hives produce little or no honey surplus. You need to buy decent queens just to have enjoyable beekeeping.
Having said that it's important to realize that mongrel bees are very variable, region by region. Just up the road in the Teesside area, their mongrels are as docile as my Buckfast, but they are still annual swarmers.
And I know your local mongrels do fine Adam. Me thinks it is a postcode lottery of where ever you live.
 #806  by Chrisbarlow
 25 Sep 2018, 17:45
I've a similar issue to Nigel. A good dose of nasty bees round me. So i buy qood quality calm queens to breed from. It works well. I do believe what the BBKA are proposing is an excellent idea. If people bred their own queens they are more likely to keep calmer bees at the least. In my view a good queen rearing program must involve a good queen culling policy as well. It doesn't matter what strain of bees you keep you will always get queens that dont make the grade.

In my mind it does matter which way people are shown how to raise queens as there are pro's and cons to all methods.
 #820  by AdamD
 26 Sep 2018, 09:37
Chrisbarlow wrote:
25 Sep 2018, 17:45
In my mind it does matter which way people are shown how to raise queens as there are pro's and cons to all methods.
I generally use a queenright queenraising method - a Demaree - but this year they just would not do it. So I had to make a colony queenless in order to get them to raise the queens I wanted.
 #821  by DianeBees
 26 Sep 2018, 11:20
AdamD wrote:
26 Sep 2018, 09:37

I generally use a queenright queenraising method - a Demaree - but this year they just would not do it. So I had to make a colony queenless in order to get them to raise the queens I wanted.
Mine didn't either with a demaree this year.
We had a go at grafting and they didn't take - here or under expert supervision, and his own grafts were much reduced in success this year.
 #824  by Chrisbarlow
 26 Sep 2018, 12:18
I had a good year for queen rearing , I use a queenless starter colony (nuc) and then a queen right finisher (dameree). Cells are easier to make in swarming season but once you are out of swarming season then they dont seem to be as sucessful.