The beekeeper can use “natural” queen cells to create new colonies, but it is very difficult to date these cells and therefore to anticipate the emergence of the queen. Another solution is available to breeders: a queenless colony will do everything possible to rear a replacement queen. It is therefore possible to create artificial swarms or rear many queens by “grafting” very young larvae. This latter procedure makes it possible to select the best lines and to have many queens available on dates planned long in advance. There are very many methods to multiply one’s stock or rear queens. This article describes a few simple, proven methods that are within everyone’s reach.

0 Evaluation and selection of colonies

Spring

Summer

Autumn

 

1 Natural queen rearing

Basic principle: a population of bees deprived of the continuous diffusion of pheromones emitted by the queen quickly feels queenless. This epigenetic change induces a radical change in the behaviour of these workers, which will be driven to rear one or more new queens from young larvae. The nurse bees will overfeed one or more selected larvae exclusively with royal jelly during the 6 days preceding the capping of the queen cell. A queen will emerge 16 days after the egg is laid and will be fertilised during the week following emergence. The first queen to emerge will eliminate the other queens still confined in their queen cells. The mated queen begins laying a few days later, i.e. about 25 days after the laying of the initial egg.  

1. Procedure: select the best colony in the apiary. From this stock, take a frame with open brood, with its bees, but without the queen. This queenless frame must contain open brood, with, if possible, all natural stages (1–3-day eggs and 1–6-day larvae); the sealed brood present on this frame has the property of being covered with young cleaning, nursing and wax-producing bees, which will be useful for drawing 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 hive.

 

 

From any other hive, take a food frame with honey/pollen and its bees. Introduce it into the nucleus hive next to the brood frame. The food frame will be taken from a hive other than the one from which the brood frame was taken, in order not to weaken the stock colony too much. A frame with pollen and at least partly uncapped honey must be selected. Frames with only capped honey require a lot of work for uncapping. Uncapped honey contains more water, which nurse bees need to produce royal jelly.

 

 

Before closing the nucleus hive, add—by brushing or shaking—the young bees (without the queen!) present on a brood frame taken from another hive, for example the hive from which the food frame originates. Bees present on a food frame are older than those present on a brood frame.

 

Finally, the nucleus contains many young nurse bees, open brood and food: queen rearing can therefore proceed naturally.

 

Move the nucleus hive 3 km away to prevent older bees from returning to the stock colony. Do not forget that this nucleus must be fed until it is fully developed in order to become a true production colony.

Variant: the stock hive can also be moved 3 km away and the nucleus hive placed in the position of the stock hive: the foragers from the stock will supply the nucleus with fresh pollen and nectar and with water for the production of royal jelly.

The moved stock hive will reorient itself. This stock hive can be fed for 1 week, with 1–2 × 300 ml of 50% syrup, while the workers are stimulated to become foragers.

Simplified, for better understanding: the queen is reared on a 1-day-old larva (4th day since the egg was laid); it therefore needs another 12 days before emergence and will start laying 10 days later (i.e. 22 days after the formation of the nucleus). Moreover, because there are freshly laid eggs on the brood frame of the nucleus, all the bees will have emerged 21 days after the formation of the nucleus, precisely the day before the start of laying by the new queen. This broodless window without sealed brood should be used to apply a treatment with oxalic acid (e.g. sublimation 1 g/nucleus hive 6 frames). The first daughters of the new queen will in turn emerge 21 days later, during which time there will be no births (emergences).

Advantage of this method:

• Creation of a new colony.
• High-quality queen naturally reared by the bees.
• Prevention of swarming in the stock colony.
• Varroa-free colony thanks to broodless treatment.
• Reduction of varroa load in the stock colony
   

2 Rearing multiple nuclei

Basic principle: A valuable colony is kept in a 6-frame nucleus hive above which a small super is placed that can be divided by partitions and fitted with mini-plus frames (1/4 of a brood frame). Using a queen excluder, the queen is kept in the super to force her to lay there. Once the frames have been laid in, the queen is returned to the brood box and the super is divided and moved for natural rearing.

Procedure: A colony with a valuable queen, if possible F0, is kept in a 6-frame nucleus hive that can receive a modular “super” which can be fitted with mini-plus frames (1/4 of a brood frame) and 3 partitions to create 4 compartments with 4 feeders and under which a screened bottom board can be attached (Quadri-hive). When the nucleus hive body 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 hive and the super. The queen is confined in the super to force her to lay there. When at least 4 frames contain open/sealed brood/eggs, the queen is removed and returned to the brood box; the super is divided into 4 compartments by 3 partitions and the frames are distributed so that at least 1 frame with open brood and eggs is in each of the 4 compartments. Frames with food are distributed equally in the compartments, on each side of the brood frame. The “super”, which becomes a nucleus hive body, is placed on the screened bottom board; the compartments are covered by inner covers and feeders. This assembly is taken 3 km away to allow natural rearing and to prevent bees from returning to the stock. The 4 queens that will emerge at J+12 will be F1. Once they are laying (J+30), they will be introduced into other colonies and the super returns to the stock for a new cycle.

 

 

 

 

3 Classic rearing with a closed starter, without queen loss

Basic principle: the beekeeper takes larvae from an excellent queen (F1) or better, a station queen (F0) and has them reared by a “nurse” colony. The larvae are grafted onto cups fixed to a frame (rearing frame) which is introduced into a starter to initiate queen cells. Once started, the rearing frame is transferred into a “finisher” hive until the day before the queens emerge. Queen cells are introduced into small mating nucs to allow mating at the apiary or at a mating station (F0). This technique requires some skill for larval transfer and specific equipment (cups, holders, rearing frame, grafting tool, nucleus hive, protective rollers, vertical queen excluder, mating nuc, candy, queen marking paint…).

Procedure: the different steps are well defined thanks to the precise rearing calendar:

1. Preparation of the starter (J-1)
2. Grafting larvae and introducing the rearing frame into the starter (J)
3. Transfer of the rearing frame into the finisher hive (J+1)
4. Installation of protective rollers (J+5)
5. Populating the mating nucs (J+10)
6. Introduction of queen cells into the nucs (J+11)
   + installation at the mating apiary
7. Checking for laying and marking (J+30)

Preparation of the starter (J-1)

From a strong healthy colony whose excellent queen (F0 or F1) is laying (stock colony), take a frame containing a lot of 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 hive whose interior has been “smeared” with honey/candy to provide maximum food to the nurse bees. Immediately next to this frame, leave an empty space: it will receive the rearing frame. In the next space, introduce an old empty drawn comb that has been run under the tap to store as much water as possible. This water is essential for nurse bees to prepare royal jelly. Shake young nurse bees into the starter from 3–4 frames of open brood from the same breeding colony, without taking the queen! Complete with a division board and cover the nuc—which therefore contains 2 frames, an empty space and a division board—with a plastic sheet fixed to the nuc with insulating tape or well-adhering, airtight tape. This plastic sheet replaces the inner cover and will allow introduction of the rearing frame without bees escaping from the starter. Store the starter in a cool place for at least 3 hours so that the bees feel queenless.

Grafting (J)

Take a frame of open brood from the stock colony with many young larvae less than 24 hours old, in the form of an open crescent. Horseshoe-shaped larvae are too old. Using a grafting tool, transfer the larvae and place them into the cups (artificial cells) fixed to a cup holder, itself fixed to the block screwed onto the rearing frame. This rearing frame will have been introduced into the stock colony for 24 hours for cleaning and to accustom the bees. For better acceptance, a small drop of royal jelly can be placed in the bottom of the cups. The rearing frame is introduced into the starter by cutting the plastic sheet with a long cut using a cutter at the location of the empty space between the food frame and the water frame. The operation must be quick and precise to prevent queenless bees from escaping from the nuc. Leave the starter (closed) to initiate the queen cells for 24 hours. Feeling queenless and having only the larvae in the cups to rear and feed, the bees will gradually deposit a rim of wax on the edge of the cup and gradually draw out a queen cell.

 

 

 

Introduction into the rearing hive (J+1)

A few hours before introducing the grafted and started rearing frame, divide the brood chamber of 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) and against the vertical queen excluder, place 1 frame with open brood and leave 2 spaces that will receive the grafted cup frame and the starter food frame. The queen and the remaining frames are on the other side of the excluder (compartment B). The brood in compartment A will attract nurse bees; a few hours later, introduce the grafted rearing frame and the food frame and brush in all the bees from the starter. Do not disturb this rearing hive for 5 days. Optionally, introduce a foundation sheet in compartment B to occupy wax-producing bees and prevent wild construction around the queen cells in compartment A.

Protection of queen cells (J+5)  

When, on the 6th day, the queen cells are capped and no longer require feeding, install the protective rollers to prevent a virgin queen from destroying the queen cells and to prevent a prematurely emerged queen from destroying all the other cells.

Preparation of mating nucs (J+10)

Prime the small frames by soldering about 1 cm of foundation.

Fill the feeder with candy because the mating nucs will be populated from below by turning them upside down. Liquid feeding syrup is therefore not suitable! Position the small frames and the inner cover correctly so that the opening for introducing the queen cell is functional!

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

Introduction of queen cells (J+11)

Remove the queen cells from the protective rollers and introduce them into the mating nucs through the opening provided for this purpose. Let the queens emerge in a cool place.

 

Checking emergence and placing in the apiary (J+14)

Remove the queen cells while checking for queen emergence. Place the mating nucs in an apiary saturated with sexually mature drones.

Checking laying and marking (J+30)

Remove one small frame and check for the presence of eggs. If so, find the queen and mark her with the colour of the year (white for 2021).

 

Rearing calendar:

 

Download Excel file to plan the rearing

 

4 Variants of classic rearing with closed/open starter

There are very many variants of this classic rearing method. Taking larvae from a selected queen from a breeder-instructor (F0) allows mating at a breeding station where colonies with carefully selected drones are present. The classic rearing calendar must be taken into account to access stations on Saturday. In addition, the feeders of the mating nucs must be filled with candy without honey (to avoid the transmission of foulbrood), and drones must be filtered out when populating the nucs to prevent unselected drones from reaching the station and transmitting undesirable genetic traits.

The open starter allows the bees to go out and continue their life (foraging and bringing in water and pollen). The renewal of young bees is constant, which allows breeders to produce several series of queen cells. The open starter consists of 2 six-frame nuc bodies placed one on top of the other and separated by a queen excluder (body A with the queen on body B). To populate the lower body B, smoke and regularly strike body A to make the bees move down, the queen remaining above because of the queen excluder. When ~2 kg of bees have moved down into compartment B, separate the 2 bodies and move body A (with the queen) away for a few hours, closed and fitted with a bottom, so that the bees in body B feel queenless. Introduce the rearing frame into the queenless compartment B. A few hours later, once the cells have been started, place the 2 nuc bodies back on top of each other (B on A, i.e. the reverse of the initial situation). Feed the reconstituted colony and start a new series 7 days after removing the queen cells.

To optimise the frequency of series, the queen cells can be transferred to an incubator at 34°C as soon as they are capped.

The breeder can also use a starter/finisher hive (1 single horizontal body) by caging the queen in a screened compartment that can hold 3 frames. 9 days later, there is no more open brood outside the screened compartment. A few hours after removing this compartment and transferring it into a holding nuc, the colony feels queenless and a grafted rearing frame can be introduced for starting. One day later, the screened compartment with the queen can be reintroduced into the original colony, at a distance from the rearing frame, to be taken over by the finisher. The following steps are identical to the classic method. The frames of the screened compartment containing capped brood are regularly transferred into the queenless part of the hive and empty frames or foundation will replace them so that the queen continues to lay regularly.

There are also breeding hives composed of 2 ten-frame bodies that can house 2 populous colonies, providers of nurse bees, surrounding a central 5-frame queenless body protected by lateral queen excluders. The entrance of the queenless body must be protected by a queen excluder to prevent a queen (primary or secondary swarm) from destroying the rearing process!

Screened cage holding 3 frames and the queen.

 

A sheet of foundation separates the screened compartment with the queen from the queenless compartment with the rearing frame introduced in its centre.

 

5 Harry Cloake starter-finisher

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

This method avoids the transfer of larvae and the queens would be of better quality.

 

Procedure: the following steps must be respected:

Step 1: A few days before inserting the cup bars, select two good colonies that will be used for the starter-finisher. Make one of the two colonies queenless. Place the queenless colony on top of the other, separating them with the Cloake board without the removable floor.

Step 2: The day before grafting, rotate the hives to reverse the position of the entrance and close the flight hole of the lower hive. Consequence: foragers will now 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 hive), shake the bees from frames of open brood and remove the frames. Reuse them in another hive, for example. Leave an empty space for the cup bar frame to be introduced and tighten with a division board if necessary. The upper hive will feel queenless. Open the entrance of the lower hive.

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

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

Step 6: About 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 depending on rearing objectives.

 

 

6 Tips

Specialist retailers offer multiple devices to facilitate certain technical operations during rearing. A slightly handy beekeeper will be able to tinker together the equipment needed…

Swiss right/left grafting tool

 

Chinese grafting tool (makes it possible to take royal jelly with the larva).

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

 

High-performance insulating partition: provides thermal insulation for the nucleus.

 

Modified super frame for rearing 15 cups:

 

Modified brood frame for rearing 30 cups:

 

Modified brood frame for rearing (45 cups) :

 

Nicot cage which simplifies grafting cups: the queen lays directly in the cups.

 

One-frame screened compartment allowing the queen to be isolated.

 

Three-frame screened compartment allowing a queenless compartment to be created in a hive.

 

Mating nuc

 

Laying frame directly in the cups of the Nicot cage. Allows the age of the larvae to be dated precisely.

Mark the queen

Queen reproduction in Mini Plus

Queen reproduction in the Laurenz hive

 

7 Other methods to create a new colony (download the 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

Formation of young colonies 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

Nucleus with grouped brood: https://www.abeilles.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_relaunch/Documente-FR/Sante_des_abeilles/Varroa-FR/1.4.4.1_nucleus_couvain_regroupe.pdf

Midday nucleus: 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

Splitting a colony in swarming fever: 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 to create a nucleus (Isabella Moretti): https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisionch/documents/divers-257

Rearing F1 queens (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 honey bee queen rearing (Daniel Petit): https://www.2imanagement.ch/fr/divers/liens/wwwapisavoirch/principes-et-methodes-delevage-de-reines-dabeilles

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

 

8 Conclusion

Apis mellifera is an easy bee to rear because it adapts to any situation: it accepts different types of hives, cylindrical, spherical, cubic; different frame formats, brood box/super DB or others, half vertical brood box, quarter brood box, Apidea frame, or any other homemade construction, for example a started comb in a honey jar; different types of materials, straw, wood, plastic, metal, polystyrene, etc. It feeds on honey from all nectars/honeydews, on more or less concentrated syrup, on more or less protein-rich candy. The only limiting factor is the beekeeper’s imagination…

Good luck to everyone with their rearing, a beekeeping activity that brings us as many emotions as the honey harvest.

 

Sources:

L’élevage des reines, Gilles Fert, © 2014, Éditions Rustica, Dépôt légal : mars 2014

ISBN : 978-2-8153-0564-8 N° d’éditeur : 49856