This is the continuation of the article “Becoming a breeder beekeeper”

4 Rearing (continued)

4.4 Preparation of the nucs

Day 10 | Monday, 12 June

On the tenth day of rearing, the pupa’s eyes are already well colored. It has emerged from its cocoon and is no longer sensitive to shocks. In addition, it is less sensitive to temperature variations. It is therefore possible to transfer the cells to the mating nucs.

Fig. 30: Empty cell Using a lamp, the pupa can easily be seen inside its cell. Here, the dead larva is stuck to the bottom of the cell. The transparency of the cell is clearly visible.

First of all, it is advisable to check whether the pupae are alive in the cells. It would be a pity to spend a lot of time preparing the nucs only to introduce dead queens. To do this, simply candle the cells using a flashlight. At this stage of development, you should see the queen moving or, by turning the cell, see her slide from one side to the other. In this way, you can verify how many cells are viable. Even in an incubator, it regularly happens that one or two cells do not develop fully.

Once you know the number of live queens, you can begin preparing the nucs. In Chapter 2.3, we explained how to prepare the nucs.

Fig. 31: Nucs ready to be filled The nucs are placed upside down and open, ready to be filled with bees.

You can now place them upside down and open, ready to receive the bees. At this moment, take the opportunity to check that the queen excluder closing the entrance of the nuc is in the open position. It is always complicated to have to open it at the mating station when the bees go out for the first time after several days.

Fig. 32 & 33: Filter device ready for use Do not forget to strap everything together and check that the removable lid has been removed. Experience speaking…

Next, prepare your filtering device, the oxalic acid sprayer, and the brush. You then open one or several hives to collect bees. Frame after frame, spray the oxalic acid solution (3 to 4 ml per side of the frame), then brush the bees with short, sharp movements into the funnel so that they fall into the filter device. It does not matter if some bees fly away; these are foragers, and we only want to keep the young bees.

The operation is repeated for the desired number of frames according to the number of nucs to be populated (10–12 for about twenty nucs).

Once this work is finished, lift the filtering device by holding it on both sides and give it a short, sharp tap on the ground to make the bees fall down. Then remove the funnel and close the passage opening. This task, as well as the following steps, is much easier to carry out with the help of a colleague.

Fig. 34: Filtering By lightly smoking the bees from above (through the mesh of the removable lid), the bees are forced down into the lower part of the filtering device.

Next, prepare the smoker (with plenty of smoke) and the removable lid. Remove the strap that holds everything together, lift the filtering device again and give it a short tap on the ground to make the bees fall down. Without waiting, the second person removes the lid and quickly inserts the removable lid. We can now gently and gradually smoke the bees to make them pass into the lower part of the filtering device. When you feel that the lid meets the queen excluder, you can stop. There is no point in forcing it, as you would only crush the drones and the remaining bees.

When all the bees have passed through the queen excluder, proceed in the same way as when removing the lid (a short tap on the ground), remove the super and replace it with the nuc lid. The filling operation now follows. Using our measuring cup or soup ladle, take approximately 100 grams of bees and pour them into the nucs.

Fig. 35: A ladle of bees is poured into each nuc and they are closed immediately. To prevent the bees from flying away too much, they can be lightly sprayed with a little water. Do not drown them either!

While one beekeeper takes care of this, the other closes the nucs. To prevent the bees from flying away too much, they can be lightly sprayed from time to time. Another solution is to leave the box in the cellar overnight and populate the nucs in the morning when it is cool. The bees, slightly torpid, will move very little.

Once all the nucs are filled and closed, release the drones and the remaining bees from the upper part of the filtering device and put the equipment away. The nucs should be taken to the cellar or to a cool, dark place for the next few days.

Two to three hours after filtering, the queen cells can be introduced directly into the mini-colonies.

If you have used an incubator, your work is finished. If, on the contrary, you kept the cells in the cell builder hive, you can put back the frames that were set aside as well as the queen and replace the supers.

5 Transfer to the mating station and use of the queens

5.1 Transfer to the mating station

Day 14 | Friday, 16 June

The day before going to the mating station, check that all queens have emerged. It should be two days since the queens were expected to emerge (plus or minus one day depending on the age of the larvae at grafting). In any case, queens that have not emerged by day 14 will never emerge, and there is no point in taking them to the mating station.

This is also the right time to check and complete the mating station form provided by the Breeding Instructor from whom you obtained the brood. If you have not yet done so, it is also time to inform the person responsible for the mating station of your arrival.

Day 15 | Saturday, 17 June

Early in the morning, you can load your nucs and travel to the station recommended by your Breeding Instructor, such as Les Toules or Moiry in Valais. In Valais, these stations are open between June and September. Upon arrival, you must present your mating station form to the person in charge on site. They will indicate where you may place your nucs and will carry out random checks to ensure that everything is in order (your initials marked on each nuc, absence of drones, sufficient food supply, etc.).

5.2 Retrieval of the nucs

Day 29 | Saturday, 1 July

After two weeks of “holiday” in the mountains, it is time for your nucs to return to their respective apiaries. As with the trip to the mating station, you must arrive early in the morning to collect them. On site, before closing them, you can close the queen excluder to ensure that the queen will not leave in the lowlands for a final mating flight.

Fig. 37: Nucs returning A shaded place and at a distance from other apiaries is ideal for storing your nucs.

Preferably, find a shaded place to set down your nucs, away from a large apiary. In case of dearth or weak population in a nuc, it would otherwise be quickly destroyed by strong colonies.

5.3 Marking / Preparation for introduction

Once the queen is laying optimally in her nuc, one generally waits at least until the first generation of bees has emerged before introducing the queen into another colony.

At this stage, prepare the equipment presented in section 2.7: marking disc, glue and a toothpick, cage, candy, tape, hive tool and smoker.

The first step is to prepare the cage by filling the front compartment with candy. It must be neither too runny (the bees could drown in it) nor too hard (the bees would struggle to eat it and the queen’s release would take too long).

Fig. 38: Marking equipment Colored glue, discs, toothpick, cage prepared with candy, marking plunger.

On a table, prepare the glue as well as a disc (have a second one ready in case the first falls) and a toothpick whose tip has been moistened beforehand. Open the nuc and remove the frames one by one to locate the queen. Once found, hold her by the abdomen between your fingers or by the wings and place her in the marking plunger. I leave the nuc open during the marking operation, as we will still need to take bees afterwards.

 

Fig. 39: Applying the disc After placing a drop of colored glue on the queen’s thorax, pick up a disc with a previously moistened toothpick and gently place it on the glue. Maintain pressure for a few seconds before releasing the pressure exerted by the plunger.

Fix the queen between the mesh of the marking plunger (without fear of holding her firmly—the foam protects her from excessive pressure), place a good drop of glue on her thorax, then pick up the disc with the toothpick and place it on the drop. Apply light pressure for a few seconds, then release the pressure of the plunger. Leave the queen in place for about one minute to allow the glue to dry properly.

I then place the queen in the cage and collect about six young bees from the nuc to serve as attendants in the cage. Once finished, I wrap a strip of tape around the cage to prevent any accidental opening.

A video showing the complete procedure for marking a queen is available at the following address: https://favr.ch/elevage/tutoriels/

5.4 Introduction of queens

As with rearing, there are as many introduction methods as there are beekeepers: the 9-day method, the 7-day method, dipping the queen in honey, crushing the old queen on the cage and introducing it directly, and so on. I will explain here a proven method to maximize the success of introducing quality queens. You are free to test other methods according to your preferences and beekeeping practice.

5.5 Production colonies

The basic and essential principle for introducing a new queen is that the colony must feel queenless. This may seem obvious, but I have seen many failed introductions because this parameter was not verified before introducing the cage. Nowadays, it often happens that a second queen is present in the hive (supersedure), and one believes everything is fine once the marked queen has been found and removed.

To ensure that the hive is truly queenless and to maximize the chances of successfully introducing these quality queens, I suggest, for production colonies, the seven-day introduction method:

Make the colony queenless and, seven days later, check for the presence of queen cells. You are then certain that the colony is queenless and already raising new queens. It will therefore not be surprised by the appearance of a young queen. The cage can be introduced directly into the middle of the hive between two frames (do not forget to remove the small protection at the entrance of the cage, and do not remove the attendant bees). There is no need to remove the queen cells.

After 24 hours, check whether the queen has been able to exit the cage. If not, scrape away almost all of the remaining candy and reintroduce the cage, then check again the next day. If the queen has left the cage, close the hive without inspecting it further so as not to disturb her. Wait at least one week before checking whether she has been accepted.

I have used this method for introducing my purebred queens for more than 15 years and have achieved an excellent success rate. If, by chance, the bees do not destroy the queen cells and the queen is not accepted, I consider that there is a problem with the queen I introduced and I allow the colony to raise its own queen to replace her later.

The ideal period to replace queens in production colonies is late summer–autumn. During this period, there are fewer bees in the hives, the queens are easier to find, we have young queens available in our nucs, and the colonies are more inclined to accept a young queen. In addition, the new queen will have been spared one treatment. However, one should wait at least three weeks after introducing the new queen before carrying out the second treatment (or introduce her after the second treatment).

5.6 Nucleus colonies

For nucleus colonies, the queen can be introduced directly at the time of their formation. It is even preferable not to leave this small colony queenless for too long in order to avoid robbing.

6 Going further

I hope that, through this document, I have inspired beekeepers to become breeder beekeepers and to enter the fascinating world of queen rearing. The techniques described in this document provide a basic guideline. If you wish to progress, it is essential to practice, rear, rear again and rear even more, but also to deepen your knowledge in order to master several rearing techniques that can serve as multiple strings to your bow, giving you greater flexibility in your apiary work.

Here is a list of books that will allow you to learn more about rearing and selection and that I strongly recommend:

• L’apiculture, une fascination. Tome 3. Editions SAR. ISBN 9783952386606
• Pratique de l'élevage en apiculture. Questions et réponses. Karl Weiss
• L'élevage des reines. Gilles Fert. ISBN 9782840388173

I wish you every success in this wonderful adventure and, above all, many enriching exchanges and much enjoyment!

For the Valais Group of Breeding Instructors SAR
Julien Balet

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See also:

• Principles and methods of queen rearing
• F1 queen rearing
• Drone rearing
• Practical Guide: 4.6.1 Mini-Plus
• Practical Guide: 1.6.5 Varroa treatment in queen-rearing nucs
• How to introduce queens?

Sources of illustrations

4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 23, 24, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 Julien Balet
1, 18, 19, 20, 27, 30 L’Apiculture, une fascination. SAR
2, 3, 6, 8, 9 Bienen-Meier
13 Andermatt Biovet
15, 25, 26 L’élevage des reines. Gilles Fert
21 Apimat

Author

Valais Group of Breeding Instructors SAR - Julien Balet

Imprint

All rights reserved. Printing, reproduction and free use permitted only within the framework of breeding courses conducted by the SAR Breeding Instructors.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Yves Laurent Martignoni, François Juilland and Pierre Brawand for proofreading the document.

Thanks also to Editions SAR for kindly authorizing the use of the graphic charter as well as content from the collection L’Apiculture, une fascination.