Colony and Queen Renewal
Good apicultural practice: The advantage of spring nucleus colonies over summer nuclei is that they allow a first assessment of queen quality prior to overwintering, owing to an additional month of egg-laying activity.
Initial situation: an apiary with 10 colonies and an estimated average winter loss rate of approximately 30 %.
Additional equipment:
- Queen-rearing equipment
- 10 Apidea mating nuclei + 3 extension units (5 mini-frames) with 3 feeders
- 3 empty six-frame hives without bees
In mid-May, a strong 12-frame colony is designated for queen rearing. This colony is rendered queenless five days prior to grafting and all emergency queen cells are removed by thoroughly shaking off all frames to ensure that no cells are overlooked. Brood is obtained from a breeding supervisor. The objective is to obtain 14 queen cells (QC). On day +9 after grafting, 10 Apidea mating nuclei are populated with food and approximately 80 g of bees (possibly including a few drones) and placed in a cool, dark room. On the following day, one queen cell is introduced into each Apidea. The nuclei are kept in the cellar for an additional three days, after which queen emergence is checked. If mating takes place at a mating station, drones must be removed from the bees beforehand.
The frames of the breeder colony, together with the bees, are sprayed with lactic acid. The breeder colony is then divided into four nucleus colonies of three frames each, including at least one brood frame (remaining brood is removed), one empty frame, and one queen cell. Honey super frames are brushed off to populate the fourth frame. The nucleus colonies and the Apidea mating nuclei are subsequently transferred to another apiary.
By mid-June, four nucleus colonies and ten Apidea mating nuclei should be in lay. It is assumed, however, that one queen has not emerged and another has failed to return from mating. A total of twelve laying queens therefore remain.
If the nucleus colonies prove unsatisfactory, the queen is replaced with a queen taken from an Apidea nucleus. By the end of the season, the nucleus colonies should occupy six frames. Feeding should be provided regularly but in small amounts.
Five to six of the remaining best queens are selected based on brood pattern compactness. These queens are used to replace a proportion of the queens in the nine production colonies of the apiary.
The Apidea nuclei are equalised so that each contains at least one mini-frame with eggs. Natural processes are then allowed to proceed, resulting in eight F2 queens in lay by mid-July. These F2 queens are used to:
- rescue queenless colonies
- replace swarm queens
- replace low-performing queens
- replace queens lost following anti-varroa treatments
- establish summer nucleus colonies (using bees from honey supers, see article)
The Apidea mating nuclei are merged into three Apidea units with extensions and feeders (10 × 3 mini-frames result in 3 × 10 mini-frames). This allows F2 queens to be maintained throughout the autumn and even until the end of winter. Caution: additional fondant must be provided in December.
By the end of summer, the beekeeper has nine colonies, approximately half of which are headed by F1 queens of the current year, as well as four nucleus colonies. In the following spring, after winter losses, the apiary again consists of ten colonies, with F2 reserve queens available.
Plan B: Beekeepers with 3–4 colonies
A possible solution is to form a small cooperative of three beekeepers, each managing three to four colonies. Each year, on a rotating basis, one beekeeper dedicates a colony to queen rearing and retains two nucleus colonies as well as two F1 and two F2 queens at the end of the season. The other two beekeepers each receive one nucleus colony, two F1 queens, and two F2 queens.
It is advisable to formally document the objectives and means of this cooperation in writing.