Creation of nuclei and queen rearing

In nature, bees rear queens in spring during swarming in order to multiply colonies. They also rear queens in other situations, for example when the queen no longer performs satisfactorily after several years of egg-laying, or when the queen is accidentally lost. In these particular cases, queen rearing is not associated with swarming.

The beekeeper can use "natural" queen cells to create new colonies, but it is very difficult to date these cells and thus to anticipate queen emergence. Another option is available to breeders: a queenless colony will deploy every means to rear a replacement queen. Artificial swarms can therefore be created, or numerous queens reared by grafting very young larvae. The latter method makes it possible to select the best breeding stock and to have numerous queens available at dates planned well in advance. There are very many methods for colony multiplication or queen rearing. This article describes a few simple, proven methods accessible to all.

0 Colony assessment and selection

Spring

Summer

Autumn

1 Natural queen rearing

Basic principle: a bee population deprived of the pheromones emitted by the queen quickly perceives itself as queenless. This epigenetic change induces a fundamental behavioural shift in the workers, which are driven to rear one or more new queens from young larvae. The nurse bees will over-feed one or more selected larvae exclusively with royal jelly during the 6 days preceding capping of the queen cell. A queen will emerge 16 days after the egg is laid and will be mated during the week following emergence. The first queen to emerge will eliminate the other queens still enclosed in their queen cells. The mated queen begins laying a few days later, approximately 25 days after the initial egg-laying.

1. Procedure: select the best colony in the apiary. From this breeding stock, remove a brood frame with open brood, together with its bees, but without the queen. This queenless frame must carry open brood, including, if possible, all natural developmental stages (eggs 1–3 days old and larvae 1–6 days old); the capped brood present on this frame has the property of being covered with young cleaning, nurse, and wax-producing bees, which will be useful for drawing out one or more queen cells from the laid cells. It is essential to take all the bees present on this frame and place it in the centre of the receiving nucleus box.

From another hive, remove a food frame with honey and pollen together with its bees. Introduce it into the nucleus box alongside the brood frame. The food frame should be taken from a different hive than the one from which the brood frame was taken, so as not to weaken the parent colony too much. A frame with pollen and at least partially uncapped honey should be selected. Frames with only capped honey require considerable work for uncapping. Uncapped honey contains more water, which the nurse bees need for royal jelly production.

Before closing the nucleus box, brush or shake in the young bees (without the queen!) from a brood frame taken from another hive — for example, the hive from which the food frame was taken. The bees present on a food frame are older than those on a brood frame.

Finally, the nucleus colony contains numerous young nurse bees, open brood, and food: natural queen rearing can therefore proceed.

Move the nucleus box with the nucleus colony 3 km away to prevent the older bees from returning to the parent colony. Do not forget that this nucleus colony must be fed until it has fully developed into a proper production colony.

Variant: the parent colony can also be moved 3 km away and the nucleus box placed in the parent colony's position: the foragers from the parent colony will supply the nucleus colony with fresh pollen, nectar, and water for royal jelly production.

The relocated parent colony will reorient itself. This parent colony can be fed for 1 week with 1–2 × 300 ml of 50% syrup, until the workers are stimulated to become foragers.

Simplified, for easier understanding: the queen is reared from a 1-day-old larva (4th day since egg-laying); it therefore needs a further 12 days before emergence and will begin laying 10 days later (i.e. 22 days after nucleus colony formation). Furthermore, since there are freshly laid eggs on the brood frame of the nucleus colony, all bees will have emerged 21 days after nucleus colony formation, precisely the day before the new queen begins laying. This broodless period should be used to apply an oxalic acid treatment (e.g. vaporisation, 1 g per 6-frame nucleus box). The first daughters of this queen will in turn emerge 21 days later, during which time there will be no emergences.

Advantages of this method:

Formation of a new colony.
High-quality queen reared naturally by the bees.
Swarm prevention in the parent colony.
Mite-free colony thanks to treatment during the broodless period.
Reduction of varroa infestation in the parent colony

2 Multiple nucleus colony rearing

Basic principle: A high-value colony is kept in a 6-frame nucleus box, on top of which a separable shallow super fitted with Mini Plus frames (¼ brood box frame) is placed. A queen excluder keeps the queen in the shallow super to force her to lay there. Once the frames are laid, the queen is returned to the brood box and the shallow super is divided and moved for natural rearing.

Procedure: A colony with a high-value queen, preferably F0, is kept in a 6-frame nucleus box that can receive a modular super fitted with Mini Plus frames (¼ brood box frame) and 3 division boards to create 4 compartments with 4 feeders, under which an open mesh floor can be attached (Quadri-hive). When the brood box of the nucleus box is well populated, the super containing 12 Mini Plus frames is added. When the frames in the super are populated and partly filled with stores, a queen excluder is placed between the nucleus box and the super. The queen is confined in the super to force her to lay there. When at least 4 frames carry open/capped brood and eggs, the queen is removed and placed back in the brood box; the super is divided into 4 compartments by 3 division boards and the frames are distributed so that at least 1 frame with open brood and eggs is present in each of the 4 compartments. The food frames are distributed evenly across the compartments, on each side of the brood frame. The super, now acting as a brood box, is placed on the open mesh floor; the compartments are covered with crown boards and feeders. This assembly is transported 3 km away to allow natural rearing and to prevent the bees from returning to the parent colony. The 4 queens that emerge at D+12 will be F1. Once laying (D+30), they will be introduced into other colonies and the super returns to the parent colony for a new cycle.

3 Classic queen rearing with closed starter, without queen loss

Basic principle: the beekeeper takes larvae from an excellent queen (F1) or, preferably, from a breeder queen (F0) and has them reared by a "nurse colony". The larvae are grafted into cell cups fixed to a grafting frame, which is introduced into a starter for queen cell initiation. Once initiated, the grafting frame is transferred to a "finisher" hive until the day before queen emergence. The queen cells are introduced into small nucleus boxes to allow mating at the apiary or at a mating station (F0). This technique requires some skill in larva removal and specific equipment (cell cups, holders, grafting frame, grafting tool, nucleus box, protective hair curlers, vertical queen excluder, mating nucleus box, fondant, queen marking paint…).

Procedure: the various steps are clearly defined by the precise rearing schedule:

Starter preparation (D-1)
Grafting and introduction of the grafting frame into the starter (D)
Transfer of the grafting frame to the finisher hive (D+1)
Fitting of protective hair curlers (D+5)
Populating the mating nucleus boxes (D+10)
Introduction of queen cells into the mating nucleus boxes (D+11)
+ placement at the mating apiary
Laying check and marking (D+30)

Starter preparation (D-1)

From a fine, healthy colony whose excellent queen (F0 or F1) is laying (parent colony), remove a frame carrying abundant food (honey and pollen) with all its bees, but strictly without any brood and without the queen! Place this frame against the wall of a 6-frame nucleus box whose interior has been coated with honey/fondant to provide the nurse bees with the maximum amount of food. Immediately beside this frame, leave a free space: this will receive the grafting frame. In the next space, introduce an old empty drawn comb frame that has been held under the tap to store as much water as possible. This water is indispensable to the nurse bees for royal jelly preparation. Shake into the starter the young nurse bees from 3–4 open brood frames from the same rearing hive, without taking the queen! Close off with a division board and cover the nucleus box — which therefore contains 2 frames, a free space, and a division board — with a plastic sheet fixed to the nucleus box with insulating tape or well-adhering, fully sealed adhesive tape. This plastic sheet replaces the crown board and will allow the grafting frame to be introduced without the bees escaping from the starter. Store the starter in a cool place for at least 3 hours so that the bees perceive themselves as queenless.

Grafting (D)

From the parent colony, remove an open brood frame with as many young larvae as possible that are less than 24 hours old, shaped like an open crescent. Horseshoe-shaped larvae are too old. Using a grafting tool, transfer the larvae and place them in the cell cups (artificial cells) fixed to a cell bar holder, which is itself screwed to the block mounted on the grafting frame. This grafting frame will have been introduced into the parent colony for 24 hours for cleaning and acclimatisation by the bees. To improve larva acceptance, a small drop of royal jelly may be deposited at the base of the cell cups. The grafting frame is introduced into the starter by cutting the plastic sheet with a long cutter stroke at the free space between the food frame and the old water frame. The operation must be carried out quickly and precisely to prevent the queenless bees from escaping from the nucleus box. Leave the starter (closed) to initiate the queen cells for 24 hours. The bees, perceiving themselves as queenless and having only the larvae in the cell cups to rear and feed, will progressively deposit a ring of wax on the rim of the cell cup and gradually draw out a queen cell.

Introduction into the rearing hive (D+1)

A few hours before introducing the grafted and initiated grafting frame, divide the rearing hive into 2 compartments separated by a vertical queen excluder to prevent the queen from changing compartment. On the queenless side (compartment A), against the vertical queen excluder, place 1 frame with open brood and leave 2 free spaces to receive the grafted frame and the food frame from the starter. The queen and the remaining frames are on the other side of the excluder (compartment B). The brood in compartment A will attract the nurse bees; a few hours later, introduce the grafted frame and the food frame and brush in all the bees from the starter. Do not disturb this rearing hive for 5 days. If appropriate, introduce a foundation sheet in compartment B to keep the wax-producing bees occupied and prevent wild comb construction around the queen cells in compartment A.

Queen cell protection (D+5)

On day 6, when the queen cells are capped and no longer require feeding, fit the protective hair curlers to prevent a virgin queen from destroying the queen cells and to prevent a precociously emerged queen from destroying all the other cells.

Mating nucleus box preparation (D+10)

Prime the mini-frames by fusing approximately 1 cm of foundation.

Fill the feeder with fondant, as the mating nucleus boxes will be populated from below by inverting them. Liquid feeding syrup is therefore not suitable! Position the mini-frames and crown board carefully so that the queen cell introduction opening is functional!

Populate the mating nucleus boxes with 200 ml of young nurse bees taken from open brood frames (without the queen!). These bees will be treated against varroa by spraying with a 2.1% oxalic acid solution (3 g oxalic acid in 1 dl water at 40°). Store the mating nucleus boxes in a cool place for 24 hours.

Introduction of queen cells (D+11)

Remove the queen cells from the hair curlers and introduce them into the mating nucleus boxes through the opening provided for this purpose. Allow the queens to emerge in a cool location.

Emergence check and placement at the apiary (D+14)

Remove the queen cells, checking for queen emergence. Place the mating nucleus boxes in an apiary saturated with sexually mature drones.

Laying check and marking (D+30)

Remove 1 mini-frame and check for the presence of eggs. If eggs are present, locate the queen and mark her with the colour of the year (white for 2021).

Rearing schedule:

Download Excel file for rearing planning

4 Variants of classic queen rearing with closed/open starter

There are very many variants of this classic queen rearing method. Taking larvae from a selection queen at a breeding monitor's apiary (F0) allows mating at a mating station where colonies with carefully selected drones are located. The classic rearing schedule must be observed in order to access the stations on Saturdays. In addition, the feeders of the mating nucleus boxes must be filled with fondant without honey (to prevent foulbrood transmission), and finally drones must be filtered out when populating the mating nucleus boxes, to prevent unselected drones from reaching the station and transmitting an unwanted genetic heritage.

The open starter allows bees to leave and continue their normal life (foraging activity and water and pollen collection). The renewal of young bees is continuous, enabling breeders to produce several series of queen rearing. The open starter consists of 2 stacked 6-frame nucleus box bodies placed one on top of the other and separated by a queen excluder (body A with the queen on top of body B). To populate body B (lower), smoke and regularly tap body A to move the bees downwards, the queen remaining above due to the queen excluder. When approximately 2 kg of bees have descended into compartment B, separate the 2 bodies and move body A (with the queen), closed and fitted with a floor, away for a few hours until the bees of body B perceive themselves as queenless. Introduce the grafting frame into the queenless compartment B. A few hours later, once the cells have been initiated, reassemble the 2 nucleus box bodies one on top of the other (B on A, i.e. the reverse of the starting arrangement). Feed the reconstituted colony and begin a new series 7 days after removal of the queen cells.

To optimise series frequency, queen cells can be transferred to an incubator at 34°C from the time of capping.

The breeder can also use a starter/finisher hive (single horizontal brood box) by caging the queen in a meshed compartment holding 3 frames. 9 days later, there is no longer any open brood outside the meshed compartment. A few hours after removing this compartment and transferring it to a holding nucleus box, the colony perceives itself as queenless and a grafted frame can be introduced for initiation. One day later, the meshed compartment with the queen can be reintroduced into the original colony, at a distance from the grafting frame, for uptake by the finisher. The subsequent steps are identical to the classic rearing method. The frames in the meshed compartment with capped brood are regularly transferred to the queenless part of the hive and replaced with empty frames or foundation so that the queen's laying continues regularly.

There are also rearing hives consisting of 2 ten-frame brood boxes that can hold 2 populous colonies acting as nurse bee providers, surrounding a central queenless 5-frame brood box protected by lateral queen excluders. The entrance of the queenless brood box must be protected by a queen excluder to prevent a queen (primary or cast swarm) from destroying the rearing!

Meshed compartment accommodating 3 frames and the queen.

A foundation sheet separates the meshed compartment containing the queen from the queenless compartment with the grafting frame introduced at its centre.

5 Harry Cloake starter-finisher

The starter-finisher operates on the principle of two stacked hive bodies separated by a queen excluder mounted on a wooden frame fitted with a removable floor.

This method avoids larva grafting and the queens are reported to be of higher quality.

Procedure: the following steps must be observed:

Step 1: A few days before inserting the cell bar frames, select two good colonies to be used for the starter-finisher. Requeen one of the two colonies. Place the queenless colony on top of the other, separated by the Cloake board without the removable floor.

Step 2: The day before grafting, rotate the hives to reverse the entrance position and close the entrance of the lower hive. Consequence: the foragers will henceforth use the entrance of the Cloake board. They continue to supply the colony.

Step 3: A few hours before grafting, insert the metal floor into the Cloake board. In the upper hive (the queenless colony), shake off the bees from the open brood frames and remove the frames. Re-use them in another hive, for example. Leave a free space for the cell bar frame to be introduced and reduce with a division board if necessary. The upper hive will perceive itself as queenless. Open the entrance of the lower hive.

Step 4: Once grafting is complete, introduce the cell bar frame into the centre of the upper hive. Disturb the bees as little as possible (minimal smoke and speed of execution are essential). Place a feeder and fill it with a 50/50 syrup.

Step 5: The following day, remove the metal floor from the Cloake board. Continue feeding daily.

Step 6: Approximately 4 days later, the queen cells are capped. They can be left until day 11. They can also be placed in an incubator to free up the starter-finisher for a new series of cells. Proceed in this way throughout the rearing season according to rearing objectives.

6 Tips and tricks

Specialist retailers offer numerous devices to facilitate certain technical manipulations during rearing. The practically minded beekeeper will be able to make the equipment needed…

Swiss grafting tool, right/left

Chinese grafting tool (allows royal jelly to be taken together with the larva).

Watering frame (can replace a drawn comb frame to supply the water needed by nurse bees).

High-performance insulating division board: provides thermal insulation of the nucleus colony.

Home-made shallow super frame for rearing, 15 cell cups:

Home-made brood box frame for rearing, 30 cell cups:

Home-made brood box frame for rearing (45 cell cups):

Nicot cage, which simplifies grafting into cell cups: the queen lays directly into the cell cups.

Single-frame meshed compartment for queen isolation.

Three-frame meshed compartment for creating a queenless section within a hive.

Mating nucleus box

Egg-laying frame directly into Nicot cage cell cups. Allows the precise dating of larva age.

Marking the queen

Queen rearing in Mini Plus

Queen rearing in the Laurenz box

7 Other methods for creating a new colony (download PDFs)

Artificial swarm (apiservice): https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.2_essaim_artificiel.pdf

Artificial swarm with queen (apiservice): https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.3_essaim_artificiel_avec_reine.pdf

Nucleus formation with brood: https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.4_jeunes_colonies_avec_couvain.pdf

Combined brood nucleus: https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.4.1_nucleus_couvain_regroupe.pdf

Flying split: https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.5_nucleus_mijournee_flugling.pdf

Natural swarms: https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.6_essaim.pdf

Colony division under swarming impulse: https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.7_division_colonie_en_fievre_essaimage.pdf

A simple method for creating a nucleus colony (Isabella Moretti): https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisionch/documents/divers-257

F1 queen rearing (Gaëtan Varone): https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisavoirch/elevage-de-reines-f1

The choice of queen type F1 or F0, Gilbert Duruz: https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisavoirch/le-choix-du-type-de-reine-f0-ou-f1-

Principles and methods of queen rearing (Daniel Petit): https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisavoirch/principes-et-methodes-delevage-de-reines-dabeilles

Creating a bare swarm (Jean Riondet): https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisavoirch/essaim-nu

8 Conclusion

Apis mellifera is a bee that is easy to keep given its adaptability to any situation: it accepts different hive types, cylindrical, spherical, cubic; different frame formats, brood box/super DB or others, ½ vertical brood box, ¼ brood box, Apidea frame, or any other home-made solution, e.g. comb drawn in a honey jar; different materials, straw, wood, plastic, metal, polystyrene, etc. It feeds on honey from all nectars/honeydew, on more or less concentrated syrup, on more or less protein-enriched fondant. The only limiting factor is the beekeeper's imagination…

Good luck to all in their queen rearing, a beekeeping activity that brings us as much satisfaction as the honey harvest.

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