Michael Palmer shared with us his view that queens should not be replaced
unless and until they are failing.  More important, he describes how to
determine if a queen is failing!  I will expand slightly on Michael s
comments and describe what I feel is an important exception to Michael s
view of not replacing queens unless they are failing.
As Michael describes, spotty brood is a classic example of a queen that
needs replacement.  My understanding is that true spotty brood either means
that the queen is low on sperm or that the workers are destroying eggs
because they can sense that the larvae would be inbred.  However, this
spring I visited a queen breeder and was taught that there is an instance
where spotty brood might not mean that the queen is failing.
At the time of my visit, there was a tremendous black locust flow.  In fact,
I was told it was the best in 9 years (since the breeder had been at this
site).  The hives with breeder queens had two full depth supers on and they
were filled and capped with black locust honey that had to be extracted.
More than one brood nest appeared spotty with several cells full of nectar
interspersed with brood.  The breeder explained that this meant that the
bees were filling cells with nectar before the queen could lay in them.  She
said that as soon as additional honey storage cells were available the bees
would remove the nectar from these cells and make them available for the
next round of brood rearing.  She advised that if one sees what appears as
spotty brood but the cells without brood are filled with nectar the queen is
probably not failing, and one should wait until there is ample storage space
for surplus before blaming the queen.  However, as Michael points out, if
larvae are interspersed with empty cells the queen should probably be
replaced at the first opportunity.
I believe the exception to the rule of not replacing a queen until she is
failing is when one is raising comb honey.  Several studies have
demonstrated that queens who have previously been through an entire seasonal
cycle are much more likely to swarm than either new queens or those that
were replaced the previous fall (through supercedure or a replacement
program). All commercial beekeepers that I am familiar with rely on new
queens to raise their comb honey.  While hobbyists and sideliners can invest
the time necessary to prevent or substantially reduce swarming with older
queens, commercial beekeepers raising comb honey cannot afford to invest the
necessary time.  Hobbyists and sideliners who wish to raise comb honey and
who want to minimize swarming should seriously consider regularly replacing
their queens.
Lloyd
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Owner, Ross Rounds  the finest in comb honey production.