At 07:59 AM 5/1/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Could anyone give me some insight on how to introduce a new queen to a
>colony?  I am a second year bee keeper.
>
>Do I have to find the old queen and destroy her before the introduction?
 
John, here is an article I wrote on the subject for my bee club. Please keep
in mind I am not more than a hobby beekeeper, and I may be missing some
facts.  This should be able to get you going though.
 
The queen in a honey bee colony to a large extent determines how a colony
performs.  Without a queen the workforce in a colony will dwindle in number,
loose cohesion, and unless a replacement queen appears, ultimately perish.
In addition, the genetic make-up of queens by in large determines many
worker characters, including aggressiveness, honey production, and disease
resistance.   Consequently, knowing when and how to replace a queen can
significantly improve a colony's performance.
        There are 3 main reasons why a beekeeper might want to requeen a colony :
1) replace an old and failing queen, 2) provide a queen to a queenless
colony, and 3) improve some characteristic of a colony by introducing a
particular breed of queen.
 
1) Replacing a failing queen
Queens do not last forever.  How old is too old for a queen?  Although
queens may ultimately live a long time, signs of age begin to show following
their first year of heading a colony.  Characteristics of aged queens
include reduced acceptance by workers, severe damage to body parts
especially feet, and depletion of sperm stores (queens mate only once in
life and when sperm stores are depleted there is no opportunities to
replenish the supply).  Minnesota honey bee researchers report that colonies
headed by queens older than 16 months of age supersede their queens more
frequently than colonies headed by younger queens.  The timing of queen
deterioration, however, is likely influenced by external conditions.
Colonies that experience long and/or intense foraging seasons and furious
demands on egg production (e.g. colonies used in producing packaged bees)
will experience rapid queen deterioration.  Requeening every two years has
long been the general recommendation for the average hive, although at Simon
Fraser University the policy is to requeen yearly.
        Beekeepers should always be on the lookout for a deteriorated queen when
ever they inspect their hive.  Colonies headed by a poor queen will have
spotty sealed brood patterns which may be entirely composed of developing
drones (queens that have run out of sperm produce only drones).
        Before introducing a new queen the old resident queen must be found and
destroyed.  Finding the resident queen can be a difficult chore, but the
task can be made easier if the queen was marked with a dab of bright paint
on the top of her thorax when she was originally introduced.  Once the old
queen has been removed a new queen should be given back to the colony.  To
introduce a new queen to a colony the new queen must be placed in a queen
cage  which prevents the resident bees from pummeling her before they have
got a chance to get aquatinted.  Queens are released from a hole in the
queen cage blocked initially with a candy made of confectionery sugar and
water (mixed to a thick gooey consistency).  By the time the bees chew away
the candy barrier both the new queen and resident workers are happy to see
one another and acceptance of the new queen is almost certain.
 
2) Providing a queen to a queenless colony
Typically colonies lack a queen either because the workers rid themselves of
the resident queen (a process known as supersedure which occurs because the
queen has deteriorated) or an accident has occurred.  There are three basic
cues that beekeepers can look for to determine if a colony is queenless or
not :
 
a) Colonies in which a queen is missing for more than 4 days will have no
queen-laid eggs.  Lack of eggs in a colony would be a totally reliable cue
for detecting queenloss if it were not for three things : 1) really awful
queens may not lay very many eggs, 2) queens in queen-right colonies
shut-down egg production during the winter, and 3) even some queenless
colonies contain a few eggs, but these eggs have been laid by workers whose
ovaries have expanded in the absence the queen.  A poor queen that does not
lay many eggs can only be detected by finding her (see below).  Worker-laid
eggs, fortunately, can be distinguished from queen-laid eggs by virtue of
the nature of how they are laid.  Cells containing worker laid eggs
invariably contain more than one egg, and eggs do not appear at the very
bottom of the cell, but instead appear on the walls.
b) The presence of replacement queen cells suggests a colony may be
queenless.  The problem with using this criteria for determining if a colony
is queenright is that queen cells also appear in queen-right colonies prior
to swarming.  Consequently the presence of queen cells cannot be used as the
sole criteria for determining if a queen has been lost.
c) Colonies suspected of being queenless should always be thoroughly
inspected for the presence of a queen to ensure the queen is not present.
 
        Colonies that have lost their queen should be requeened the same way as if
a queen was failing, and should not be requeened by allowing queens to
emerge from replacement cells.  Queens emerging from replacement cells are
invariably of poor quality as workers have reared them under emergency
conditions.  Before requeening a queenless colony, replacement queen cells
should be destroyed.
 
3) Improving colony characteristics
Queen breeders have developed numerous lines of bees that result in colonies
that are easier to manage and are more productive than their wild sisters.
Beekeepers who find that their bees succumb easily to disease, are too
aggressive to work comfortably with, or do not produce as much honey as the
neighbors bees, may consider requeening with queens of good pedigree.
Typically the best queen lines are those developed locally, and beekeepers
interested in improving their colony's genetics should visit a local queen
breeder's operation to find out what they have to offer.
        It is important to remember however, even a good queen cannot solve every
problem associated with poor beekeeping practices.  In many cases
substantial improvements in colony performance can be achieved using
non-selected queen lines simply by improving existing management systems.
***********************************
** Adony P. Melathopoulos *********
*** Center for Pest Management ****
**** Simon Fraser University ******
***** Burnaby, British Columbia ***
****** Canada, V5A-1S6 ************
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         - Rev. John L. Blake, 1853