Jane Power <[log in to unmask]> writes:
 
>I'm new at this soooo....if I have an ill-tempered monarch and requeen, and
>I get another ill-tempered monarch should I requeen again?  It seems very
>disruptive, and yet, mean queens are undesirable.  The season in Northern
>Ontario is short and I wonder if I put them in a frequent state of new
>queenhood, queening?, I worry for my honey or should I?  Jane Power
 
This is just one beekeeper's opinion, (I'm sure other opinions abound!),
but here goes anyway - Requeening is not so disruptive as it seems -
you probably only loose about a week of brood production.  The real
issue is how quickly are you able to determine if the new queen is
ill-tempered?  You need to wait for a significant percentage of the
population to be the progeny of the new queen before you can make
that evaluation.  So I would say a minimum of six weeks, and longer
would be better. Sooo, you *could* do it twice a season, if warranted -
once in the spring, and once in the fall.  I dislike fall requeening
because you don't have much time to recover if the new queen
doesn't "take" for some reason. Then again, spring requeening can
impact your honey production slightly - life is a compromise....
Should Jane worry for her honey?  I don't think so, as the "state
of new queenhood" will be relatively infrequent (from the bees
perspective).
 
Rick Hough, Hamilton, MA, USA