----- Original Message -----
From: "George Nanos" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [BEE-L] Howto replace Africanized bees w/ new package


> How can I get rid of the queen, preserve as many
> workers/brood/honey, & repopulate with a package & new queen without
> destroying the current brood or poisoning the comb & honey stores?
This was a question raised in a study group the answer below was given by
Claire Chavasse ( a lurker on this list)
Describe in detail how to handle a bad tempered colony and how to requeen it
with a Queen of a gentler strain.

The beekeeper should be very well protected when entering an apiary where
there are bad tempered bees. The colony or colonies that are bad tempered
should be left to last to be manipulated, as their bad temper can spread to
the better tempered colonies.
I have used the following method of requeening a bad tempered colony very
successfully. It has the added advantage that you do not have to find, and
remove the queen first. It is very common for obvious reasons, that Queens
leading bad tempered colonies are unmarked, unclipped and therefore
difficult to find.

Requirements:
. A strong Queenright 5 frame nucleus.
. Floorboard
. A brood chamber.
. Queen excluder
. Additional brood chamber or super
. Nuc. box to hold extra frames
. Sheet of newspaper.
Method:

. A few days before carrying out the requeening, place the nucleus beside
the bad tempered colony, (B.T.C. from now on) so that the bees may orientate
themselves to their new position.
. Remove the supers if present and leave to one side on top of the roof.
. Remove the B.T.C. to one side.
. On the original site, place the spare floorboard with the Queen excluder
on top, then the additional brood chamber or super, then the brood chamber.
. Place the 5 frame nuc in the centre of the brood chamber, disturbing the
bees as little as possible.
. Open the B.T.C. and removing the frames in order, shake the bees off them
in front of the brood chamber on the original site, the outer frames will
probably be superfluous, so place them in the nuc. box.
. As you move in towards the brood nest continue to shake the bees off the
frames, making certain that all the foragers and the Queen have been removed
before placing the frame in the brood chamber on either side of the 5 frame
nuc. If I were to repeat this operation again I would not be so diligent
about removing the nurse bees. I lost too many when I did it the last time.
. Make sure all the brood has been saved, and placed in the new brood
chamber.
. Place a piece of newspaper under the Queen excluder before replacing the
supers, to delay the foragers in the supers returning to the brood chamber
too quickly.
. After 48hrs, remove the Queen excluder over the floor board and also the
additional brood chamber/super

Why does it work?

. The shaken bees are demoralised and disorientated having had to struggle
back through the Queen excluder, up through the empty brood chamber/super
before they get back to the heart of the colony. There they find an
established Queen in residence with her strong nucleus providing a focus for
the colony. The fight will have gone out of the returning bees.
. The bad tempered Queen can not get through the queen excluder and so
perishes. The space provided by the empty brood chamber/super means that the
pheromones from the bad tempered Queen can not influence the bees in the
main brood chamber.

Additional points.

. On the one occasion that I used this requeening method, I noticed an
immediate improvement in the temper of the whole colony. This means that it
was the pheromones from the bad tempered Queen that were influencing the
temperament of the colony. On other occasions when I have requeened a bad
tempered colony, I have had to wait until the progeny of the new Queen have
emerged before I noticed any difference; thus it was a genetic influence
causing the bad temper

Ruary Rudd

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